The Weird of the Wanderer ...............................................................................................................................1

A Letter from the Splendour of Arry, Grandmaster of the Order of Sanctissima Sophia, Plas Hoel, Hoel,

South Wales, to the Reverend Adam Howley, Professor of Hivite Literature in Saint George's College,

Oxford, and Honorary Consultor to Cardinal Bensington's Institute of Archives and Inscriptions.

"I am sending with this the key of a largish deedbox, which my man Anderledy (P.M. of the `Isaak Newton,'

by all the gods!) will bring you in the course of the day. The box contains the papyri about which I wired to

you from Smyrna last New Year's Day; and you are to consider yourself at liberty to deal with them in any

way which you may deem suitable. If you should think them worthy of being submitted to His Eminency, I

"The box also contains other matters, which (in my humble opinion) ought to be considered along with the

papyri: but you will know best about that. Meanwhile, it will perhaps be as well if I set down here (for your

"You know that Luke and Lombard and I went out to Armenia, in the spring of last year, on a little private

expedition of our own, to hunt Assyrian and Persian antiquities; and I need not go into that now, as R.H.B.

says. Nor need I trouble you with a description of our early successes and failures in digging. But it will be

better for me to come straight to the point at issue, namely, our chancediscovery of a rocktomb concealed

behind a ruined chapel, which rewarded our exertions at precisely 15 o'clock on the third of last December.

"As soon as I had had cleared away some of the rubbish and broken stonework of the chapel, I became aware

(from the apparition of brilliant mural paintings on what seemed to be a doorway in the natural rock) that a

really important discovery was in my hand. Lombard was trying to take a siesta in his tent, and Luke was

with him singing something about filling a cup with golden wine: but I at once summoned them; and together

"Of course we were soon surrounded by a mob of Scottish looking fanulloni, who annoyed us with screams

and gestures as we uncovered the painted doorway; and it was not long before one of them proclaimed

himself to be the owner of the site and demanded compensation. Lombard promptly tried him for the

`Apprentice,' and got the `FellowCraft,' but not the `Master': whereupon I at once staggered him by offering

to purchase the place outright; and, after halfanhour's fierce haggling, I obtained it for about a couple of

sovereigns' worth of the silver money current in the district. Then, I arranged for half adozen of the less

anointedlooking ruffians to work for me; and soon cleared the rest off my new property. It was getting too

dark to do more that afternoon: so, for safety's sake, we had our tents moved on to the scene of our find, and

"The next morning, Luke took several photographs illustrating the rocktomb from the outside and every

single step of our subsequent investigations. You will find platinotypes of all these (duly numbered) in the

deedbox with the papyri; and here you must let me say that it is entirely due to you that we were able to

make so complete and so permanent and so irrefutable a record of our work. Both Luke and I agree that, had

it not been for the peculiar cameras which you had made for us and the singular instructions which you gave

us, such a record could not have existed. I know you say that you received these secrets of photography from

a dying man, who himself had them from our late Lord Hadrian and only to be used for great and singular

enterprizes: but, my dear Howley, do let me affectionately ask you whether you have ever considered the loss

to humanity which is involved in the keeping of such amazing powers in the hands of the few. However, all

this rambles away from my mark. I merely mention the point, and leave it to your discretion, which I do not

"I regret to say that, in cuttingout the outer door of the rocktombit was a marble monolith, painted all

over on the hither side with a design of palmbranches and the emblems of Cancer and Lunawe slightly

damaged an inner door of cedar wood, magnificently carved and inlaid with silver arabesques containing the

same zodiacal symbols in motherofpearl. I ought to add that after we had examined and photographed the

whole tomb in situ, I had it all carefully removed in numbered lots, which (at the moment of writing) are

being put together again on the south side of the narthex of my chapel here at Plas Hoel.

"To describe the interior of the tomb. It was twelve feet long by six feet wide by seven feet high inside

measurement, and completely lined with silver and motherofpearl worked in designs similar to those of the

abovenamed door: excepting the far end, which has a singular Taushaped crosspotent, four feet long by

oneandahalf feet wide, in a vesicashaped oval of Egyptian ankhs. The centre of the floorspace was

occupied by a huge chest of black basalt, eight inches in thickness, on which was no carving of any kind:

excepting an uncial inscription on the lid (which had never been sealed up), as follows:

I suppose we may as well translate: `I was Diyllos among men on earth, O most kindly stranger, whom, once,

everready Odysseys begat in Armenia. Surely, as I hear, his comrades called him Nicholas: but, at other

times again, he (as being a Mage) was styled Balthazar.' I shall be curious to know what you make of that.

"The basalt chest contained two small silver urns hermetically sealed, one on each side of the head of a

mummy done in a positively amazing manner, which I will describe presently. At the feet was a largish

"You will be able to follow our proceedings from the photographs. Luke and Lombard and I are all agreed

that such splendid photographs as these, of a dark interior, would never have been done but for the six oxygen

lamps for burning powdered aluminium which you provided. If you decide to lay our discoveries before His

Eminency I must insist that you shew him this letter in order that he may know to whom any credit (which

"The following were the contents of the two small urns. Both contained a limpid viscid substance, which (of

course) at one time had been preserving oil. In the first urn, we found a Smith Wesson's Hammerless Safety

revolver and a denarius of Augustus, wrapped first in linen and then in canvas. In the second, was a gold

watch with a badly cracked dial and no glass, number 7634291, made by Dent of Trafalgar Squareand,

also, a coin of Ptolemy the Piper (the value of which I do not know), both similarly wrapped in linen and

"From the masons' marks on the ruined chapel which had concealed our rocktomb, Lombard declares it to

be a work of the ninth century after Christ. (Lombard, I may remind you, is P.G.D. of England and in the

thirtythird degree.) And, from the fact that, between the hillend of the chapel and the outer slab which

closed the tomb, there were quite six feet of soil beside the wall which masked the said marble slab, it is

evident that the builders of the chapel (whoever they may have been) were quite ignorant of the existence of

the tomb behind it. The Vali of Van also, whom I questioned, asseverated that he had never even heard of any

kind of tradition, connected either with the chapel or with the tomb, during all his twentyfour years in the

"Now I come to something even queerer. Luke solemnly swears that the revolver which we found was not

made before the year 1898; and Dent (to whom I submitted the watch) tells me that (according to his books)

it was made in 1899 and sold to a Mr. Nicholas Crabbe of Crabs Herborough in Kent. And yet, please note

that both these things have been discovered in an Armenian rocktomb dating from something B.C. and only

"We did not examine the mummy, or even unswathe it, until we got it safe home to Plas Hoel; and, in fact,

"The body is that of a very handsome lad indeed, of about nineteen years of age, and most magnificently

made: indeed I only know of one specimen of physique at all comparable with it in splendour of symmetry;

and that is the statue of the Athlete with the Strigil, by Lysippos, in the Vatican collection. There is absolutely

no trace of decay about it; and it looks as fresh and feels as soft (though of course it's cold) as the body of a

young sleeper. Another curious thing about it is that it does not appear to have been eviscerated, or treated

internally in any way. Luke and Lombard and I have been over every inch of the skin with magnifiers; and

have quite failed to find anything like a likely incision. Nor are there any indications of the actual cause of

death. The lad evidently had been in the wars, for his body has twentyone frightful scars: but, though four of

them at least ought to have been mortal wounds, they are perfectly cicatrized and healthily healed. The four

scars, to which I specially allude, are as follows: a thrust through the inside of the right thigh from front to

back which might very well have tapped the femoral artery: another through the left armpit upward, with

emergence inside the collarbone: two clean round punctures through the neck from front to back, one on

each side of the throat. There are also seventeen cuts, none less than four inches long and all deepish, on the

face and the muscles of the arms and the front of the thighs. But they are not at all disfiguring: for, as I have

said, the skin is supple, very fine and smooth and young in texture, and also exquisitely sunburnt throughout.

Whoever he was, any man might be proud of being his father. As for the skull, it is small and of a very

perfect facial angle of the best Greek type. The eyes are closed; and I frankly say that we've none of us had

the heart to open them. As for that dear softhearted Luke, he declared that he'd never speak to me again if I

attempted it. The mouth is a bold firm onea little large perhaps: but splendidly shaped. I don't as a rule care

for a Cupid's bow in one of my own sex: but this one is that, and as noble as one could wish, as well. The lips

are as red as beef; and the teeth are perfect, quite white and rather large. The hair is short, and of a pale flaxen

colour, almost white: though the man was obviously under twenty years of age. Now for measurements. The

height is sixtyeight inches: leg inside fork, thirtyfive inches (singularly long, according to modern

proportions): chest, thirtysixandaquarter inches: weight, hundredandthirty seven pounds ten ounces.

All the above are taken naked. On the third finger of the right hand is a silver signet, very massive indeed, the

device being a crucified Love (the cross is the peculiar taushaped crosspotent noted above) with the legend

**XH* AKONH which Luke poetically renders The Whetstone of the Soul. On the shoulders of this ring are

two eye chalcedonyxes set in the sign of the Crab; and on front and back there is the sign of the Moon in

bluemoonstone and rock crystal respectively. Under the linen shroud, which (mark you) was a large sheet

and nothing at all like the ordinary mummy bandage, the body was clothed in a short linen tunic under a

"Among the usual spices which formed a bed at the bottom of the basalt chest, we found four English

sovereigns, dated 1884, 1889, 1890, 1897. The two first are much worn: the 1890 piece is in fair condition:

while the 1897 one has been pierced and has a small ring through it of very red gold.

"Professor Monteagle of Cambridge, who has been staying here, gives it as his opinion that the mummy is not

more than two thousand and certainly not less than nineteen hundred years old. He was, however, frightfully

disturbed about the sovereigns: while the revolver and the watch, which we discovered without his help,

appear to have disconcerted him most seriously. I am, indeed, convinced that he will go back to Cambridge

and tell everybody that we have been trying to pull his leg: which in fact is not the case.

"However, the whole affair bristles with incomprehensibilities, to my mind; and I only hope that you, my

dear Howley, may be able to find some solution of them when you decypher the papyri. Of course I will

gladly furnish any further information which you may require and I may be able to offer. And I hope you

won't mind my saying that it will perhaps be better for both of us if you will kindly have your translation of

the papyri typewritten at my charges. There is a most satisfactory little person at 7 Broad.

* * * * * * A Letter from the Reverend Adam Howley, Professor of Hivite Literature in Saint George's

College, Oxford, and Honorary Consultor to Cardinal Bensington's Institute of Archives and Inscriptions, to

The Splendour of Arry, Grandmaster of the Order of Sanctissima Sophia, Plas Hoel, Hoel, South Wales.

I, WHO have been, or will be, Nicholas Crabbe of Crabs Herborough in the duchy of Kentand who am

Odysseys son of Laertes, an immortal and sometime inhabitant of olympian palacesbut now known as

King Balthazar of Moxoene which will be called (or which was once called) in the time whence I came (or in

the time to which I yet shall come) Van in ArmeniaI swear, by my honour and by my faith as a king who

never has built altars to Roma and Julius (like the Ephesians and Nikaians) or to Rome and Augustus (like

Bithynia and Asia), that the things which I here cause to be written, and write, are true.

May Osiris, and Zeys, and Mithra, and all great gods of the past and the present and the future, masters of

wisdom, blast meand may The One Signified scorn me, if these written words do not agree with the facts

which befell me, who am fallen backward through the rolling wheels of time. Thus, I, an immortal and a

king, swear. And may he who belies me rot and wither and evanesce in the uttermost depths of Tartaros

whither I have been thrice, or of Amentet, whither I have been once, or of that Hell to which I will not go. I

Now I, King Balthazar of Moxoene in Nairi or Armenia, the Viceroy of Victory queen of the stalwart stately

Anglicans, say thus to Empedokles my scribe, in my royal palace on the shore of my Thospitian Sea, within

my kingdom, which I do not hold from Rome, having taken it myself by favour of Great Zeys.

Let it be known that I, King Balthazar, was called, in an age which is to come, Nicholas Crabbe the

Impossible. I lived peacefully as might be. I have nothing to say of my origin in that life, or of my early

years: for, in good sooth, most of the things which then happened to me were so incredibly cruel and so

unspeakably hideous that I wish to forget most of them, and the rest have been smudged (mercifully) on the

tablets of my memory. It shall be enough to tell that, as a scope for my energy, I forced myself (in default of

all other interests) to become a seeker after wisdom, a client of the Muses and of far darting Phoibos

Apollon, an ardent student of all branches of music and gymnastic, and chiefly of those branches which

taught my subtile adept mind to do what all other men never even dreamed of doing, and my strong nimble

body to do what all other men dare not do. For I penetrated into the occult arcana.

Under pretext of studying the surgery of ancient Egypt, I learned to read hieroglyphics; and, in time, my

exertions and my energies culminated in a single desire to get to the root of white magic as contained on

papyri in tombs of archpriests of temples of Isis. For a whole year I pondered the difficulties and the dangers,

delaying to gratify my desire, expecting a sign or a companion from the blessed gods. None came.

Arrived at the end of my patience, I acted very suddenly. For, having provided myself with gold money and

circular notes, I went my own way to Alexandria, departing from my native land which now is the barbarian

Britannia. And, at Alexandria, I hired a boat with boatmen and servants: for it was in my noble mind to sail

up River Nile, staying when and where I listed, exploring ruins above Assiut, specially small ruins, in the

hope of finding mummychests ripe for rifling or hieroglyphics crying to be read on pillars or walls of

unknown temples. During eight months, thus I did: but I found no more than three unopened mummychests,

and (beside them) little of worth. Nevertheless, one of the said chests contained certain superior matters: to

wit, a magic staff of silver and ebony, and a silver divinationcup chased with sacred creatures, which things

I did not examine closely till I came to Philai. But, there, my labours were rewarded: for a small temple at

Philai yielded no less than threeandforty mummychests, carven and painted, containing the remains of

persons who (in their time) had been most mighty. And, of these, I will name one, having many matters to

narrate concerning him. But he was the priest Amenemhat, sometime hierarch of the temple of Isis at Tanis

by the mouth of Nile. Moreover, I found a manual intitled For the Use of Priests; and it contained the rules by

which mortal men may communicate with the immortals, whom the Egyptians call Osirians. And this was by

far the most noble thing which I discovered. But I must not omit to mention also a divination ball, of

rockcrystal of the bigness of a baby's head, which I found in a mummychest: it was banded with silver set

with large blue moonstones, and a silver chain was attached to it. Now I took this for a favourable omen, very

apt indeed to me: for, having been born under the moon and the sign of the crab, and being therefore crab by

nature as well as Crabbe by name, the heart in my dear breast rejoiced greatly to possess so beautiful a jewel,

formed (indeed) of the very stones and of the very metal which (as is well known) are proper to a native of

that sign and of that planet. But I hanged it by its chain to the magic staff already named.

When, at length, I had leisure to study the papyrus manual, I became aware of the vast power which it put

into my hands. It contained a very long and useless introduction, including oft reiterated laments because

Okhos (the Persian successor of the deposed NebkNeft) had degraded the hierarchy of Khem, striking a

blow at the prestige of all hierarchs. But, this being ended, the gist of the work was clearly set down: nor

could anything more be added necessary to enable one (possessed of the magic implements, as I was), to

commune with longdead sages, mages who had relinquished the use of their bodies and dwelt no more in

the sweet sunlight, obtaining from them the wisdom of the past, and the power which such wisdom gives,

But it appeared that I still lacked certain spices and sacred combustibles, both essential in magic operations.

Wherefore, being always young and headstrong and (therefore) of a spasmodic habit, I turned about instantly

to those places where I could purchase myrrh and cassia and gumolibanon and gum tragacanth and

spikenard and redsanders and saffron and cinnamon and sulphur and powdered ivory and pepper and

pepperwort and mastic and certain other substances the names of which may not be written on account of a

religious reason. And four months passed before I had finished this quest in Cairo and Alexandria and Arabia

and Byzantion and Massilia, filling a cabinet with potent essences and very virtuose quintessences.

BUT I had determined to do my magic in an inner court of the temple at Korte, unknown to persons liable to

disturb my peace. And, with incredible toil, I cleared the said court of sand, having left my servants in charge

of my boat a mile away. Furthermore, in the hard redgranite pavement of the court, I cut a circular channel

of sufficient depth to contain a certain very holy liquid; and this I did with nineteen days' incessant labour,

using a hammer and a welltempered chisel. But the trench was three paces and nine in circumference, and

In the midst of the circle and on the base of a fallen column, I set my silver divinationcup; and, by it, I

placed my cabinet of essences and quintessences: but I hanged my divinationorb to my left arm by its silver

chain, holding the magic staff in my hand. The fulness of the moon agreed with what was described in my

papyrus manual; and, when all was ready, I filled the circular furrow with a brightgreen essence, pungent,

mysteriously potent, continuing to pour till the trench was lipdeep with the emerald fluid. Next, I filled the

divinationcup with water from the sacred river, lowering the orb of divination therein with my left hand, and

sprinkling the circle with gumtragacanth while I intoned the incantation called Of the Buckle of Red Jasper

Dipped in Water of Ankham Flowers and Inlaid in Sycamore Wood and Placed on the Neck of the Shining

The moon grew brighter and more fierce, till she wellnigh rivalled the sun in brightness; and her hot rays

made me sweat profusely. Wherefore, at the proper time, I was glad to strip me naked; but I began to stir the

water in the cup with the magic staff, saying: "The Blood of Isis, the Charms of Isis, the Power of Isis, be a

protection unto Me, the Master, crushing that which I abhor, making all Ways passable or flyable or

In the glare of almost unbearable moonlight, I saw that my crystal orb was becoming redhot

notwithstanding that it was immersed in Nilewater. But I poured the proper unguent of aloes into my cup,

with nine tears of gumolibanon; and the green liquid in the trench blushed with ruddily gleaming access of

fury. But I, looking again on my papyrus manual, read these words: "See that thou grasp thy staff firmly, not

letting it fall from thee through any pang, be thy pangs never so keen; likewise, when the clear sphere

gleameth redly, hold thy staff as though it were thy life, for so it is, and if thou lose it thou shalt die." And

hardly had I read this rule (which I had never seen before: although I had collated the whole manual with

some care during my fourmonths' quest for spices), hardly, I say, had I read these awful words, when I felt

I gripped it more closely: but its heat increased. I felt it searing my flesh. I saw the smoke rise. I heard the

flesh frizzle like the hissing collops of an acceptable sacrifice farced with select fats. And, all the while, lurid

At last, so poignant was my anguish, that I determined rather to risk death than to see and hear and smell my

living hand burned off while I stood. But, at the very moment, piercing through the sputtering of the

whitehot lambent rod in my defenceless hand, there came a divine voice from I know not where, saying in

the Argive tongue: "Be of good heart, my child, and endure for all my pain: for many of us who inhabit

Whereon I nerved myself, dismissing base thoughts of surrender. And all grew black before my eyes; and my

soul was shrouded in obscurity. So I stood, enduring unmentioned and unthoughtof anguish with all my

might; and I indeed was on the very verge of swooning: when suddenly the admirable voice came again,

ringing triumphantly, saying: "Hail, Conquistator of Self! Hail, Nicholas, the Victor over many Peoples!"

And immediately the staff became cool; and my reeking wounds vanished, and only the memory of my

I turned to inspect the divinationcup. Pale flames leaped silently therein from the crystal orb, of such intense

heat as comes from an open furnace to the wellreddened watcher at its door: but the Nilewater lay limpid

and cold above and about the raging globe of the seventimes heated fire. But I, mindful of the rules in the

papyrus manual, cast in myrrh and powdered ivory; and I intoned the incantation called Demands on the

The verdant flame in the trench gave forth volumes of suffocating green vapour, filling the whole court, and

beating me brow to pavement. But I ceased not from my chanting; and, when I came to the famous verse,

"Nor shall ye slay us by choking: thus we adjure you," the green steam suddenly arose, till it seemed that I

was enclosed in a domeshaped cell of malachite, so solid did the vapour appear. Whereupon, with the

Instantly there was a crash of thunder and the inmarcesible glow of uranian fires. The earth beneath me

quivered like a woman; and the temple rocked as ships are rocked (in his spasms) by the azurehaired

earthshaker, lord of the stormy sea. But, above me, the green dome expanded, stretching to unfathomable

abysses of space; and I perceived that its place was becoming filled with fiery faces of base grotesque and

adipose dignitaries, archbishops of malevolent allure having pleats about their eyes disdainful of obscure

persons. Nor were any of them alike for any moment of time: but they waved and flickered like the myriad

leaves of a forest blazing with autumnal glory. But out of this maze of bodiless faces came a tired moaning,

Now I indeed was serene; and my heart and lordly mind exulted greatly: for I knew that I had the Power.

And, holding out the magic staff with my right hand, and placing my left on the cool crystal orb, I cried: "I

Eight flamelike shapes flickered downward, individuals glabrous and mouthing, the torsions of whose pulpy

lips avowed their invirility; and they stood before me, but on the further edge of the redlyglaring moat; and

Then for the moment I was nonplussed: but I remembered that eight men, all named Amenemhat, had been

(in their turns) priests of Tanis. Wherefore I cried again: "I summon none but him who was Amenemhat, the

priest of Tanis, at the time when Ptolemais Ayletes reigned as Pharoah in Khem."

And now but one flamelike shape flickered outside the circle; and it simply sighed, saying: "I am that

So I commanded him to lie quietly down and lap the emerald liquid in the trench as a test of his good faith.

But I conjured the others to return to their own places in Amentet, using the Name Ineffable to compel them,

the Spell which may not be spoken save in direst need, nor written save on virgin papyrus by a priest who

knows himself to be without blemish. And they bowed thrice when I named the Name, wailing wearily. And

there was thunder and lightning and a heaving of all things at their going; and they seemed to melt together

into one vast fiery arrow, which sped (like a bolt shot by the lord of the silver bow) upward and away into the

But Amenemhat, the priest of Tanis, lay prostrate before me, meekly lapping. And he no longer had the shape

of a flame: for, now, the chariot of Helios Hyperion had emerged from the crocushued gate of dawn.

Ashengrey was Amenembat, and hard indeed to see: for, being but an Osirian, he cast no shadow, nor did he

obstruct my view of the columns of the court behind him. And I was in the mind to laugh at the thought that,

after all, so high a priest as he was should have no more solid shape than a jellyfish, tinted like a rainbow

where the rising sun's radiance touched him. But I remembered that Death comes to all, and that rainborn

Iris (a divine one of goddesses) is also thus primarily tinctured; and I hastened to intone the Spell of

Embodiment, touching what there was of Amenembat with the magic staff, and saying: "Advance, thou

Thus I spoke: but he rose like a brilliant mist, ever thickening into opacity and taking the form which my

lordly mind hurriedly made for him. Mothernaked, even as I was, he crossed into the mystic circle which

my staff opened to him. I touched his brow with the crystal orb, and placed his hands in the sacred water of

Sihor in the divinationcup. And vital fluids came back into his veins, so that he became a thing of earth and

fit for reasonable conversation. But I also gave him the Hearttouch, saying: "Receive thy mortal life in lease

But he stood at his full height, looking into my eyes; and he said: "O thou, unknown, who has called me from

Amentet, and hast given me again a mortal body with blood and lifelike juices, be ware lest I shall

overcome thee. Thus I warn thee, in accordance with the immutable law of Osiris where it is written, He who

But I was not afraid. And I laid the Spell of Obedience on Amenemhat. But, when I had thus secured my own

safety and also a trusty friend and familiar who was to instruct me in unmentioned and unthoughtof magic,

then, indeed, I took liberty to give way to a human weakness, having already tolerated enough to slay

nineteen ordinary mento wit, the agony of the scorching staff, and the long labours under the fiery moon,

and the stifling green vapour, and the horrid vision of the flickering faces; and I took liberty, I say without

When, at length, the mind in my dear breast awakened, I found my new familiar faithfully ministering to me,

gently holding the thread of life which bid fair to fray out in my enfeebled grasp. But we two, having clothed

ourselves, returned to my boat, there to live in tranquillity while I recollected myself.

But there remained much to be done yet by me. I felt that I would have been quite content to spend the rest of

that life as Amenemhat's pupil, learning from him the occult and affascinating arts of the hierarchs of ancient

Khem. For we read together in the many rolls of papyrus which I had collected; and it was easy to know that,

whereas I was like a clever child who early has learned to read, he was a perfect adept who (by long

experience) was able to understand what was read. But, by chance, the precise method of working a certain

inchantment, which opens the Hall of Double Truth and Right, baffled us both. And it was of the very gravest

import that I should know how to practise this inchantment: for thereby I could learn the whole secret of a

man using himself Bai and Ka and Khou as might seem good to him: which, for a miserable mortal, is much

But the rede of Amenemhat was that I should repeat the Spell of Summons, summoning a Great One of the

Greater Ones, from whom I should require an instruction. But, for some time, I withstood the priest: I know

not why, unless it be that habit and temper make me prompt to resist direction that I may steer my course in

But there came a night, when we by chance were sitting together on the deck of my Nileboat in the clear of

a full moon; and great peace came upon me, so that my soul swelled sweetly within me, letting me know that

I was full of wiles and furnished with inexhaustible reserves of power. And I said: "At dawn we will go

southward; and, at the temple of Korte, at a moonbirth, I will use my power for summoning a Great One of

Thus I spoke. But Amenemhat answered me, saying: "Nay, O Summoner, why toil so far, seeing that there

"I know," quoth I, "of no place as free from the risk of disturbance as the temple of Korte."

"Thou hast but to command," he responded "and I, O Summoner, must reveal to thee the secret fanes of

"Thebes above ground indeed is ruined, O wise Summoner, but not the Thebes which lies below."

"From the gods who revealed the fact to me in my former life: for when I was a priest in Khem, I learned

many things which in time would be. And it was given to me to know how that the temples of Khem should

be desolated and the peoples of Khem destroyed. And it was shewn to me for how many centuries the secret

halls of the three priestly colleges at Thebes would remain forgotten. But I, also, am ware of an entrance,

wellconcealed, very hard to find, which I can shew to thee if thou desirest to make use of those dim halls as

Thus he spoke. And the mind in my breast exulted. But I said: "Surely the adits will be blocked with shrubs

"That may not be, O Summoner," he answered, "for the adit of which I speak is in the open plain."

"Then we will go to Thebes; and the thing which has to be done shall be well done, there."

But when, at length, we were come to the ruined capital of the Upper Land and the Lower, having left some

of our baggage at the paltry village of Luxor, concealing the rest, anon we pursued our way across the sandy

plain thereby, until we reached a certain pebbly strip of land which was unencumbered, excepting by a low

pillar of granite. And the pillar, being no more than a span in height, would have been quite unnoticeable had

any ruins approximated: as it was, I almost trod upon it before I perceived its weatherworn surface, deeply

graven with the dead tongues of tombs, and undecypherable for all who have not (but I have) a knowledge of

those tongues from the tongue of one who himself had used them. Timeworn was that little pillar, as well it

might be: for Amenemhat said that, in his own day, it had been more venerable than the oldest fanes. Also, he

narrated a tradition, which said that a remote ancestor of Menes found it there, marking the site where Divine

Osiris first placed his foot on the hallowed soil of Khem: but Amenemhat said (as well) that this tradition

rested on no sure warranty, for that Menes himself had taken the pillar from a temple builded many ages

before Khem was a country, and had it set there to mark the entrance of the secret halls which he himself was

But I instantly put this saying to the proof. For we strove to move the pillar in its socket, where during

nineteen centuries at least it had been undisturbed. And, when we turned it round, the slab supporting it sank

slowly on a hinge: but sand with many pebbles slid downward on to the stair which was revealed.

HAVING lighted lanthorns, I began to descend the stair with my familiar: but a very noxious vapour drove us

back. And, while I chafed at this delay, Amenemhat reproved me, saying: "Why wait hours for nature to

And this having been the second time when I myself had forgotten the power which I possessed, till reminded

of the same by my familiar, I, indeed, held a sort of council with myself; and I determined that, in the future, I

no longer would live as men of my own race are wont to live, in helpless abject obedience to socalled

natural laws, seeing that (for me) such laws did not exist, but that I would be limited solely by the mind in my

lordly breast, willing what I pleased, and causing its performance by forces amenable to my magic art. And,

having thus determined, I instantly invoked certain airy sprites, yellow as sunflowers, who, with millions of

legs alternately coming and going, purified the staircase and the edifices to which it led.

The passage having thus been rendered favourable to earth walking men, we again descended: but, when we

came to certain gates beyond the fortyninth antechamber, some mysterious energy barred our progress. That

is to say, when we reached the said gates, my head would have gone through, but my feet refused to

budgethough Amenemhat went forward without difficulty, whom I, seeing that he was my familiar and his

place behind his lord, recalled. For, if I could not proceed (on account of some inexplicable impotence on the

part of my blameless feet), neither might he, for a servant may not go before his master in a case of this kind.

Wherefore, I used my magic art again; and I uttered several spells one by one, excepting the Spell of the

Name Ineffable which I do not deem fit to say in any need but that which seems extreme. And none of my

But my mind mentioned that Amenemhat's ability to go forward, and my inability, might perchance indicate

some difference of character between us two; and I used my wiles for pondering possible differences. In this

manner I perceived that whereas he was a priest according to the highly respectable rite of Khem, I was no

more than a Tonsured Clerk of the Latin Obedience. For it may as well be known by all men living that, in

my early (or later) life in the kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, one of the many

incredibly cruel and unspeakably hideous happenings which marred me and soured me was as follows. The

Divine Ones of the Latin Obedience called me to serve them as flamen sacrificing for the Blessed Dead; and I

willingly responded to the call. In token whereof I was admitted to the first grade of the flaminian estate,

being marked apart from other men by the fivepointed tonsure. And immediately, by the blundering of blind

guides (the most righteous of men), confirmed by hierarchical timidity or stupidity or malignity, I was denied

my heart's desire, and bile was mingled with my blood. I, then, endured my torments disdainfully, as my

habit is, saying all those invectives which my mind gave me to say as rudely and as loudly as possible. And

there appeared unto me processions of heresiarchs and schismatarchs (all blameless), wearing altogether

prestigious habiliments, and using gestures (almost salacious) which ran along their bodies and suggested

things not said, who proffered to me priesthoods (and in one case) a pontificate. But none of their pretty

things pleased me, not being of valid or desirable origin. And I remained where I was, ready to go forward,

But now the blessed gods inhabiting olympian palaces were permitting me to find in Thebes the

representative of a religion prior in time to, and by no means a dissent from, my owna religion,

furthermore, which was to mine what the flower is to the fruit. Wherefore, being denied the fruit, I made no

For this cause, I retraced my steps, returning to Luxor, where I commanded my faithful Amenemhat, the

priest of Tanis, to give me the order of priesthood according to the rite of Khem. And this he did when I had

sworn the great oath of an Egyptian priest, which oath bound me, till Mother Isis herself released me, as I

shall narrate hereafter. But Amenemhat gave me the unction of sacred nard, with the white linen robe and the

silver ankh, breathing on my head, and laying hands on me, saying: "May all the gods bless thee: may

HerupKhart love thee: may Isis nurture thee: may Osiris guide and prosper thee, so that thou never look

back but alway forward on the illimitable field of wisdom hereby opened to thee. And, by the power

committed to me, I Amenemhat, make thee, Nicholas, a priest of Khem, in the name of Apis Osiris the great

god who sitteth in Amentet, everliving lord, everlasting ruler, deliverer, sustainer, who is Osiris, who is

Nu, who is Ra, who is Tum, all whose feathers are upon him, and who giveth life for ever and for ever."

These matters, then, being accomplished, we returned to Thebes; and nothing impeded my entrance to the

But we transported my magic apparatus, on a truck, into the fortyninth antechamber of those secret halls, to

be convenient for our operations at a fitting time. But, because the fidelity of the servants whom we left with

the rest of our baggage by the riverside (excepting that which I myself had concealed) was not above

suspicion, I, indeed, took with me all my money, to wit, fiveandfifty gold quarterounces of Victory queen

of the stalwart stately Anglicans, and some Egyptian silver. Also I armed myself with my deathspitter, and

with a belt containing fourandsixty death parcels, for there was always a chance of an encounter with

barbarian tombriflers in Egypt of the nineteenth century to come. Also, I took my gold timeteller: for that

But we stood before the hithertoresisting portal. A touch from my magic staff caused the massive gates to

creak and to yawn with much groaning before us. Having crossed certain vast secret halls, walking at a slow

but even pace for an hour or more, we came to the verge of a subterranean lake. I flashed my lanthorn over

the watery expanse: but we saw no distant shore. A narrow causeway, only a few spans higher than the dark

flood, was all that met our eyes; and that lost itself, twenty cubits away, in impenetrable gloom. I stooped and

dipped my hand into the water: by which act I perceived that what I had taken for a lake was actually a strong

But I boldly stepped out on to the causeway, bidding Amenemhat to follow me and to push before him the

small wheeled truck, light to lift, easily propelled, which contained my cabinet of essences and quintessences,

with my divination cup and my crystal orb of divination banded with silver with adornments of

rosecrystals and blue moonstones, together with a skinful of Nile water and certain alimentaries. And, as my

eyes became accustomed to the murky blackness, I perceived the outlines of colossal columns on both sides

of the stream: these supported a carven roof strangely painted with cats and weasels.

But, after a journey which seemed to be interminable owing to the darkness and the silence, though it was not

actually more than a thousand paces, the causeway widened suddenly; and, on peering for the edge, I was

ware that I had crossed the dark river as by a bridge. That dark river of running water divided my life as a

liegeman of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans from a life which lay before.

New wonders arrested the melancholy dejection of my mind. In front of me, there appeared a wall painted

with figures representing the initiation of priests in the divine Isidian mysteries; and this wall was pierced by

three doors. Not for me was it to hesitate. Not for me was it even to ask guidance of my familiar. But these

opinions did not prevent me from contriving a wile, observing with the corner of my eye that Amenemhat's

glance instinctively went to the door on the right hand. Which door I instantly laid open with a touch of my

magic staff; and, having passed along a corridor, richly adorned, very fair to see, we emerged in a vast

circular hall, columned, and surrounded by a cloister having a series of apsidal chapels in its outer boundary.

And the place was indeed marvellous. For, in the middle of the hall, fourandtwenty circular stairs soared to

a circular platform, whereon sat a lonely altar; and the whole place was made of some clear white stone like

polished marble, dazzling snowwhite marble without veins or mottling, and without any of the joints which

are formed when slabs of stone are laid in order one upon another: so that I could not determine whether the

wall had been builded with hands, or cut with incalculable toil from the virgin quarry, or merely called into

being by art magic. But, though the hall was of most candid whiteness, the altar on the summit of the circular

foot pace was of bloodred porphyry. And, being (as it was) deep in the bosom of the graingiving earth,

the place was lighted by a radiance, perennial, most agreeable to the eyes, the source of which I am not at

But I placed my magic apparatus on the altar, and on the footpace pertinent thereto, all in proper order; and I

sat down, with Amenemhat, on the lowest step, to refresh our bodies with a meal in preparation for the work

before us. And, when we had dismissed the desire of eating and drinking, so sitting we conversed as follows.

"It was draped with white carpets of silk embroidered in silver with images of the assessors of Amentet. And

a carpet was hanged between every pair of pillars, veiling the cloister from the hall."

"Doubtless. But still it seems that some malignant sprite might lurk in the shadow of those columns,

And hardly had the Tanitic priest uttered the last word, when a blameless shape (very loathesome and

ferocious, shewing nothing but the accentuation of a tattered pendulous head and the thick rictus of parts of a

face), emerged from those very shadows, and rushed upon us with mouthfoamings and hiccoughs and

Amenemhat withered away with terror; and his mind wilted as he fell swooning on the steps. But I, strongly

bounding, leaped to the altar; and, having seized my magic staff, and having made the terrible Sign of the

The Shape stood, held by the mighty inchantment, a ridiculous and cruel personage, gross and ceruminous,

with an incomplete head dandling on a tendinous neck. But I descended to recover my familiar. And, having

further bound the Shape with the Word of Fear, I drew back the mind of Amenemhat to his body, fattening it

with comfortable words. And anon I required the Shape to decline to me his generalities, telling who and

But he responded very obediently, saying: "I am Sanes, priest of Osiris, warden of yonder purple altar, and

I then demanded, "Why, O hideous and excessive prelate, didst thou rush out so menacingly upon us?"

"Because," he said, "having seen no man since I know not when, I was fearful that ye had evil designs. But,

seeing that thou hast the Sign and the Spell and the Word, I must believe thee to be present with the sanction

of the gods. Yet, seeing that I (in my lifetime) was the warden of this place, seeing that no man hath deposed

me, seeing also that (after my accidental but lamentable death) I was not properly embalmed but did myself

fulfil the cavities of the holy crocodiles who ate me, I still must deem myself its warden."

Thus having spoken, he wept fragmentarily. And I will say that I rarely have seen anything more frightful

than the tears of a shape which (some centuries before) had been an eaten clergyman. Wherefore, having

required him to make his Mark with his finger (as it were) on the stainless floor, and having counted the

angles of the same, I said: "Poor faithful Senior, thou shalt be relieved of thy wardenship and speeded whither

And I removed Spell and Word. But, intoning the Speeding Hymn, I bade the Shape to begone in peace to the

dull region of Amentet, giving him the Word of Entrance, and praying the Assessors to deal leniently with

him. For surely so dreary and so patient a watch and ward as his should suffice to smooth many wrinkles

And, with a joyful cry, the Shape collected his parts; and, leaping, he evanesced. But we turned to the matter

TOUCHING the ordeal of the scorching staff, I consulted Amenemhat. He had grave doubts as to whether it

was lawful to protect the hand with a magic unguent, or to hold the staff with tongs; and he stood by the

injunctions of the wellwritten papyrus which ordained that the staff must be held in the hand. But, as for me,

my dear mind foamed with blood, and my stomach shifted inch by inch, and the gorge of me swang to and

fro, at the anticipation of the grievous anguish which I was to undergo: although I knew that, by enduring the

ordeal the first time, I had summoned from the dead a master of magic, from whom I was learning ineffable

wisdom, and, that, by enduring the same a second time, I should call from the dead a master of masters of

magic, from whom I might learn wisdom absolutely illimitable. But, notwithstanding this, the heart in my

bosom would take no cheer, but remained dull and spiritless and weighted with premonitions of disaster.

Furthermore, while my mind was thus obliquing brusquely in the manner of a crab, I needs must add to my

perturbations by certain thoughts about the gods of my own motherland. And I pondered the question again,

asking myself whether what I was meditating actually amounted to apostacy. And I went over much old

ground: for the point was a very nice and subtile one. I told myself how that bad hierarchs and

farfromimmaculate anointed ones, all the most righteous of men, of my race and age and tongue, had

refused to let me serve my gods and theirs in the manner which those divine ones inhabiting heavenly palaces

had themselves designed. And I enumerated, one by one, all the occasions when the same blameless persons,

out of spite or out of pique or out of merely natural and ungracious cruelty, had chased me from temple after

temple with secret anathemas, denied me my rites, and withdrawn from me the very hem of the skirt of

fellowship. And I postulated that a well minded man must have a religion. Therefore, without disloyalty to

the gods of my own land, from whose worship my fellow worshippers cut me off, I pronounced that it was

permissible for me, in default of fulness, to use a moiety. Thus, then, I argued with myself, until I was

And anon I addressed myself to my task, placing the crystal orb in the silver cup, and filling the last with Nile

water, while my familiar poured into the thirsty trench below the steps that magic emeraldcoloured liquid,

whose exact ingredients may not be told at large. Which having been well done, we prepared to summon a

Great One of the Greater Ones out of the Outer Immensity. And, for this cause, that the one whom I was

about to summon was coming from so vast a distance of time, I knew that the heat of my magic staff would

be immeasurably greater at this second summons than at the first. For movement is heat and heat is

movement; and, the faster and longer the movement, the fiercer the heat of the burning.

But, while the priest Amenemhat sprinkled beautiful smelling gumtragacanth, I intoned the hymn I am the

One among the Forms which the Eye the Only One hath created, and the incantation called Of the Buckle of

Red Jasper; and then we both prayed to Ptah the Painlessener to make my ordeal as endurable as might be.

It is true that I was not to have an additional burning from the fierce clear of the moon, since I was (this time)

far beneath the earth: but I ceased not from my pureminded prayers to Ptah, even when the crystal orb began

Wherefore, fearing lest the sudden death of his summoner (and I expected no less) should leave Amenemhat

to drag out a weary existence for ever on manbreeding earthfor a spirit reincarnated by means of Nile

water must remain incarnate until his own incarnator shall permit him to depart his body then, indeed, I

hastily gave to my familiar the Word of Freedom, saying: "O Amenemhat, it seems that the time of our

separation is at hand. But I am loth to part, for thou hast taught and served me well: but I will not help myself

at another man's serious cost. Therefore I free thee from my bond of rule, that thou mayst return to thy place

when it shall seem good to thee. And, for thine own sake setting thee free, O Amenemhat, I bid thee

But his response came to me very thinly, very reedlike: for his body instantly began to fade away from him;

and he was fast becoming an Osirian and a spider'swebcoloured mist in my sight. And he said: "O

Nicholas, Conquistator of Peoples, I indeed thank thee for the respite from the gnawing weariness of Amentet

which thou hast granted to me, by summoning me to tread the kindly earth for a space; and, in return, I will

unfold to thee some pages of the book of thy destiny. For, having been and being now about to be an Osirian,

I can read plainly in that book: yet I may not tell thee all, for the gods have forbidden it. And, ere thou hast

lived another moon's age, thou shalt see me as I used to be: for I and thou are linked together in an

unbreakable cycle of nigh two thousand years. And I and thou will meet again in this land of Khem, I the

Thus he departed, leaving the unfinished phrase lapping against my mind. But I was very grievously

perturbed: for, unless I read his prediction awry, I was doomed to die within the month. And I was not ready,

having an infinity (an inconceivable infinity) of things to do, of souls to save, of sufferers to soothe, of

oppression to remove, of wrongs to put right, of liars and thieves and slanderers to confute and to despoil and

to shame, of cruelties to avenge with headdiggings and eyegougings and revenges and slaughters and

maimings and stonings and spineimpalings with much moaning, and many other mindgrieving evils. For

Wherefore, arising with shoutings from my lethargy, I adjured the mind in my dear breast to be very strong,

very valiant indeed, very alert to withstand Death's insidious onsets. For, though I had seen many things, I

never yet had met personally beautiful Death the soother of men. And first, I set myself to endure the ordeal

in which I was engaged. For lurid gleams were leaping from the emerald liquid in the trench, wafting hot

Instantly, stripping off my linen robe and casting it outside the circle, I again ascended to the porphyry altar;

and grasped the magic staff with my bare hand. Now that my mind was blazing with firm courage, the staff at

first seemed cold. Anon, a gentle wave of warmth flushed through it; and a dart of anguish shot into my flesh.

Pang followed pang: stab pierced stab. More swiftly came fiercer thrusts of pain as the heat increased. But I

kept my mind fixed and my lips addressed to Ptah the Painlessener. Great scorching flames flowed from the

staff over my hand and arm. I seemed to be holding a nineteen timesheated fire; and, yet, amid all the

The heat of the flame was so intense, that I looked for my arm to vanish away in impalpable ashes.

Irresistible desire of dropping the staff assailed me; and my fingers loosened a little against my will. Like as

the helmsman of a ship, whose rudder is shattered by wintry storms, and who (knowing the right course) is

unable to steer his vessel, even so was I then. The staff fell out of my grasp: but the silver chain, which

Instantly, the flames expired; and the lambent streamers in the divinationcup died down. But I stood, alone,

After a space of gloom and silence, I saw tiny golden sparks floating in the vast circumferent void. But I

watched them: for there seemed naught else for me to do, nor was my will any longer inclined to force

leadlike unwilling limbs to act. And the sparks became spots. And the spots became swiftlyrolling globes of

I lay, crouched against the bloodred altar of porphyry. The globes of light changed, taking wonderful forms.

All my members were enfeebled; and, indeed, only the mind in my breast was me. For my body had

renounced its allegiance to my sway, and had gone apart from me in shocking rebellion, leaving me to die

having nothing but my mind and my mind's eye, which saw and thought the very queerest things, the most

All round me, I saw the spirits of my senses standing. On the left, was my hearing: on his right, was my

smell: on his right again, was my sight: on the right of that one was my taste: on his right was my touch.

Above these, hovered my life, in the form of a small white bird like a beautifullycrowned hoopoe. Behind

them, were my powers of speech and movement, very large, and sudden, and frightful. And the mind in my

But all these shapes mopped and mowed and sighed at me; and my voice made as though he would have

derided me, his fallen master: but the bird of life forbade him. And the shapes wagged and wavered horribly,

gesticulating among themselves; and some seemed friendly: but others were undoubtedly hostile. And,

suddenly, with a pitiful gesture, my hearing put up his hands and dived cleanly into me; and I heard faint

voices, as one hears the whimpering of miners coming up a pitshaft. For my powers and my senses were

"I," said my life, "for I will not leave him; and how can ye wander lifeless through the widebosomed earth

Then, indeed, the mind in my noble breast spoke unwinged words, saying the Spell of Not Letting the Powers

and Senses of a Man be Taken from Him in the Netherworld; and, afterward, I intoned aloud: "How now,

rebellious creatures, why dally in idleness when work remains to be done? Know ye your master; and obey."

And, with shambling gait and visages rueful and ashamed, my senses and my powers obliqued each to his

But I staggered to my feet; and, seizing the divinationcup, I drained its cool contents, looping my arm

through the chain of the crystal orb. And, at the moment, flames began to rise from the summit of the purple

altar. Whitishgreen they were, ever increasing in volume, as though some mountain (a forge of the

Kyklops) were vomiting from a new vent. And the flames rose higher and higher, till they licked the very

apex of the hall ninety men's heights above me; and there was neither smoke nor vapour: but only fervent

flames, humming and buzzing and bounding upward with irresistible leapings. But, changing to violet, they

vanished, leaving the place in a violet glare wherein was the whirring of wheels.

But I dismissed inertia; and, having my faculties under order, I began to look upon these happenings with a

In the midst of the wheels were faces and figures and events, faint indeed at first, but growing clearer and

firmer and more violent in movement till they displaced the wheels. But I watched very intently; and I saw

the histories of mortal men of many different races being enacted before my eyes. For, things (which then

were past, and since have been) were done in my sight in that secret subterranean hall of Thebes. Kings and

queens and emperors and princes and republicans and patricians and plebeians swept in reverse order across

my view, all doing their deeds. Time rushed enormously backward in tremendous panoramas. Great men died

before they won their fame. Kings were deposed before they had been crowned. Nero and the Borgias and

Cromwell and Asquith and the Jesuits enjoyed eternal infamy and then began to earn it. My motherland, the

kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, melted into barbaric Britain: Byzantion melted

into Rome; Venice into Henetian Altino; Hellas into innumerable migrations. Blows fell; and then were

struck. Bearded men became smoothskinned boys. Death came first; and birth came last. All things changed

save one: silver Sihor's living waters rolled down through the green streak of Egypt and the sacred Delta to

At length events were still. The medley of scenes vanished. And I was ware that I was alone with Another,

Unknown, in a void of blackness, impenetrable, save where the bloodred altar glimmered obscurely; and, on

it, was inthroned a Presence, shapeless, indistinguishable from the murky gloom.

But I was not afraid. And anon a voice spake to me, saying: "O man of many wiles and inquisitive mind, it is

permitted to thee to have thy will, seeing that thy will is good and not evil. And, forasmuch as wicked and

fatuous anointed ones are minded to neglect thee, wasting thee, throwing thee away as worthless, forasmuch

also as the Maker of thy stars will not have His good work spoiled and His keen tool rusted or blunted by

disuse or misuse, therefore, employment is granted to thee such as thine energy deserveth and as thy mind

desireth. For which cause, thou art put back in time; and several lives are given thee to live, and several deeds

to do, and several fountains of wisdom are laid bare to thee, so that (being perfected by much striving) at a

Thus having spoken, the Voice ceased. But I was alone, in the dark, very alert, inexpressibly elated, hugging

huge joys in my superior mind; and my heart was throbbing like the tail of a lambkin in springtime drinking

But the hall rocked slowly and more rapidly, with lamps and tones and the roaring of hurricanes and

waterspouts and the vibrance of unmentioned and unthoughtof music. And long tongues of white fire went

before; and all the gods of Khem followed after in intolerable procession, Osiris and Isis and Heru the Child,

and hawkheaded Ra in his splendour, and well plumed watery Nu and Nut, and intelligent Ptah excessive

in magnitude, and ramheaded Khnemu, and birdlike Khepera, and selforiginated Tum, and feathered Shu,

and lionheaded Tefnut, and Zeb the cackler, and Heru of the two horizons, and dark Set, and jackalheaded

Anpu the wayopener, and ibisheaded Thoth the measurer, and Maat the straight, and Net the lady of

heaven, and Sekhet the eye, and catheaded Bast, and plumed Ansu with his flail, and mistress Ta Urt, and

Hapi of the South with the papyrus, and Hapi of the North with the lotus, and Amen the Only One who has

no second, and Mother Nut the sky his wife. And, all the while, I heard the shattering shaking of the sacred

sistrum, denoting the presence of Divine Mother Isis, the Greatest of the Three.

But the Voice spake yet again to me, saying: "O man of many wiles and inquisitive mind, these are the forms

But I gazed on the assemblage of the gods, until my eyes were blinded; and, for a time, I saw no more.

I, Empedokles son of Polypemon, a Rhodian, have written this. My lord the king ceased from dictating these

histories, in order that he might lead a squadron of his flying chariots, waging against King Artavasdes, who

(audacious) has demanded tribute. And the Divine Herakles has gone with my lord the king. May

unconquered Mithra, M.Z.L., P.S.U., D.O.M., S.H.C., M.E.L.F., prosper this undertaking. And I seal up the

scrolls, impressing the wax with my lord the king's own sigil of the crab and the moon. And these scrolls are

written fairly by me, and sealed by me, Empedokles, the scribe, by command of my lord the king.

I, KING Balthazar of Moxoene, having been victorious once again over a barbarian people, and being

wounded in battle, but not excessively, dictate these words to Empedokles, my scribe, to pass the time.

Having seen, therefore, the vast white hall in the secret subterranean temple at Thebes teeming full of the

whole hierarchy of the gods of Khem with all their relative appanages; and, having watched these holy ones

departing with the indicible pomp and splendour of their coming; and, having heard the mystic voice which

told me the meaning of these manifestations, warning me of my connection with the same: anon, I was left to

Now the hall was flooded with soft white light, as it had been when I first entered it with Amenemhat. And,

as I meditated, standing strongly at my ease by the altar of blood red porphyry, I was ware that white carpets

of silk (covered with silver embroideries) were looped from column to column all round the immense circle,

between each pair of pillars a carpet hanging from capitals to bases. But the embroideries represented the

Assessors of Amentet: throned in state they were; and they judged the dead, allotting some to the blissful

abodes, and others to the flaming house of Set who gnawed them with his teeth ever champing in expectation

of fresh meals. And, while I gazed on these things, I remembered how that Amenemhat had spoken of similar

carpets. But, when I thought of that priest of Tanis, I was moved to hold a council with the mind in my dear

breast concerning many things. For it seemed good to me to recall events in order, so that (knowing the past

precisely) I might understand the present and proceed securely to the future. Wherefore, I reminded myself of

my godlike dismissal of Amenemhat at a time when I awfully needed a friend, of the ordeal of the scorching

staff, of the overwhelming and wily inquisitiveness which impelled me to persist in spite of failure, of the

minddelighting reward promised to my perseverance, of the flying whirling wheels which swept me back

through panoramas of Time, of the apparition of the godlike company of Khem. And I considered all these

things, fully and turn by turn, before I laid them away in the cells of my memory, as sedulous squirrels store

nuts in hollow trees, making provision for winter. But, when, at length, I was satisfied, I came down the steps

from the purple altar; and, gathering my priestly robe from the floor where I had cast it at the beginning of the

ordeal, I clothed myself, and proceeded to the cloistral antechambers in search of the truck of baggage which

Amenemhat had trundled, from the outer future world, into that arena of untimed immortality. For I was

convinced that I no longer stood in time where I had been, but rather more than nineteen hundred years prior

to the life which I had left. But, of this, I had no particular or human certainty, but only a general or divine

one, for my watch told me that barely eleven hours had elapsed since my entrance into the place; and I firmly

prepared myself to find that those eleven hours included nineteen centuries, and that the land of Egypt (which

I had left flourishing under the rule of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans) was now cowering

beneath the talons of Roman Eagles. But, having woundup my watch, and feeling very hungry, I refreshed

my body with the provisions in my baggage, leaving nothing for mice. Thus I did, in the cloister behind the

Afterward, it seemed good to me to take such matters as would be useful to me in my new life, and to dispose

of the rest, before emerging into activity in the sweet sunlight. Accordingly, under my linen robe, I buckled

on my belt of beautiful deathparcels with my deathspitter in its proper sling. And, above that belt, I

buckled on my broad belt with the wellplaced pockets, so that the two belts (one above another) became like

a thorax protecting my vitals. But, in the well sewn pockets of the broad belt, I bestowed my watch, and a

box of waxmatches, and my gold and silver money, and my pocketbook with its beautiful pencil, and my

Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pen, and my Foreign Office Passport, with the circular notes from my bankers,

and eight notes each worth twentyfive ounces of gold. Thus having prepared myself, I laced the strong

sandals on my feet, arranging the pleats of my robe conveniently to conceal what was underneath, yet leaving

all things ready to be snatchedat in case of necessity. But there was nothing left, excepting my magic

But, on pondering the thing again, I was ware (from the carpets between the columns, and from a certain

aspect of the porphyry altar), that the temple in which I stood was no longer a deserted temple, forgotten

because buried by the lapse of ages, but actually a temple in daily use. From which portent, I also was ware

that it behoved me to be ready to inflict my presence upon anyone (or at least to explain it plausibly to

anyone) who by chance might totter in my direction, and, indeed, not to wait for such discovery, but to go at

once in search of the society of articulatelyspeaking men, and to take my share in life as I should find it on

For these reasons, then, I set my cabinet of essences and quintessences in a darkish recess, hiding it, in case I

should need it again: but it remains there to this day. But I retraced my steps toward the causeway, recrossing

the dark river; and, coming there, I broke my truck and lanthorn into pieces, and committed them to the

swiftlyflowing stream. But I went on toward the light of the outer world, having the crystal orb

(silverbanded with adornments of rosecrystals and blue moonstones) hanging by its chain from my neck,

and the silver divinationcup in my left hand, and in my right the magic staff with its silver chain twisted

round my wrist. Thus, I passed majestically through the antechambers; and a fold of my robe inshrouded my

head, lest my silver hair and beard should bewray me to the shaveling priests guarding every portal. But they,

seeing me emerging from the holy place with a holy and even mind and wearing priestly habiliments, were

unperturbed; and, beside, the sight of the very beautiful instruments in my hands, and the Word of Silence in

the ancient tongue of Khem which I gave them in my passage, prevented any doubts of me from afflicting

their ingenious minds. But also, of course, I was receiving favour from the gods.

So, at last, I stepped up through the secret trapdoor on to the sandy plain under the full blaze of radiant Ra.

And I at once perceived a difference. For the plain, with its low pillar on the spit of pebbles, was the same,

but infinitely smaller; and, below me, where I had left desolate ruins, was a city heaped with mighty fanes

and splendid palaces. I, Nicholas Crabbe, liegeman of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, gazed

with my live wellseeing eyes, not at puny Luxor, but on Thebes of the Hundred Gates, Menes' Thebes,

Thotmes' Thebes, the capital of the Upper Land, the great metropolis of the south, in glory inconceivable, and

For a time, I stood, musing at the wonder to which my wiles had brought me, and contriving many plans. For,

it appeared to me, that (though I had done very well as a priest of Isis in extricating myself from the temple)

the mind in my lordly breast was yearning for a wider more strenuous life, in which my wisdom and my

power (but now considerable) might be used and (if possible) augmented. And, for this reason, it seemed well

But a certain remembrance set me searching the rockstrewn plain; and, by chance, about an hour before

sunset, by favour of some god, I came to the cavity under certain boulders, where I had seen fit to hide a

small teakwood chest lined with aluminium, when I came to that place with my familiar Amenemhat. Now I

am ignorant of the reason why I found it there, for the time when I hid it there is even now very far in the

future. But, as I had found my baggage in the secret hall, with the food (which I brought from the era of

Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans) still sweet and fresh more than nineteen centuries before its

actual confection, I was not then, and I am not now, disposed to vibrate the air with explanations of what no

one can understand. It is enough that I found my teakwood chest in the place where some day I shall no

doubt hide it, and that its contents provided me with easy and beautiful garments wherewith I promptly

indued myself, namely, a pair of brown leather boots, with a flannel jacket and trousers, and a silk shirt and

socks, all of a very pale grey colour, and a soft felt hat of the same hue but of the shape affected by Hermes.

But when I had clothed myself in these wellcut garments, I buckled my revolverbelt outside them, and

hanged a leathern satchel, containing my crystal orb and my divinationcup, over my wide shoulders. But I

kept the magic staff in my right hand to twirl and flourish by the way; and, so, I set out for the city.

A wellcarved open chariot passed by; and the slave, driving, gazed curiously on my strange form. Around

me, on both sides of the wide white road, brickred tillers of the soil toiled with bent backs amid the emerald

crops. Another chariot passed me; and halted a little further on for the naked charioteer to gaze upon me with

jawdropped amazement. At the gate of the city, I saw fierce Makedonians on guard, clothed (as was the

fashion of their race) with copper armour blazing like red gold, and kirtles of the wellcured skins of ponies,

and great crested helmets on their heads, and long spears of tough ashwood in their hands, very brave to look

upon. And, as I came near, one (the most righteous of men) said to his fellows: "I say, here is wellhatted

"Aye:" responded another: "and the godly youth goeth attired for this hot land in grey cloudgarments,

"Ho, stranger!" cried a third. "Stand thou, and say whether thou art god or man, and what contraband thou

Now while the usual dirty little boys and loafers and inquisitive women were assembling, I realized that I had

to do with Argyraspides, seeing that the shields of the soldiers were laminated with silver; and, moreover, I

perceived that they were offering me the Sign of the Shieldrim. But I used wiles, answering: "First tell ye

Thus I spoke: but deepseated indignation swept from their hearts across their faces, even as Sihor's stream

inundates the thirsty land in floodtime. And anon one chirruped: "O thou silly fellow! The divine Ayletes is

"Ayletes?" I cried. "Is, then, Ptolemaios Dionysos the Piper lord of sacred Khem? And are ye Makedonians

"Aye, stranger:" the blameless guard responded: "Makedonians we are, but no slaves of that Fluteplayer. Of

our own will we serve Ptolemaios, for pay and for promotion. But, who art thou?" he continued. "Who art

thou, who seemest first to know nothing and then to know everything? And why art thou thus garbed? And

Then, indeed, I was wily: for I made them the Countersign of the Shieldnavel; and I said, in a parable which

he who has a grain of sense may read: "I am Karkinos Gampsonyx called Oypogonos, son of Kallikhronos,

born of Nomadikos, begotten by Eypator son of Eygenes who sprang from the great race of the Selenidai.

And I go thus garbed because I have a lordly mind to go thus garbed. And, in my hand, I bear that which is

Thus I spoke. But the sentinels cowered before me, muttering among themselves: "He knoweth the great

Countersign: Yet he is not of us, neither of presentborn men, victims not masters of life and of death: but he

is some god or hero out of the Netherworld." But to me they said: "Pass freely, O Karkinos Oypogonos of the

multitudinous paternity, who art lord of life and death. And the Piper may stop thee if he will: but we will

But I went smoothly into the city. And men cast wondering looks at me, because of my strange aspect; but,

because I had been able to cause the insolent soldiers of the corrupt Lagidai to shrink from me, I was

sufficiently admired. Now the sun was near his setting; and the mind in my breast earnestly desired to seek a

small place of my own, near water, where I might rest awhile, watching for an opportunity of mingling

advantageously with mortal men. For, indeed, I have ever had a natural longing to be near water, and useful

to men. Wherefore, having found my way to the river, I addressed myself to an Argive colonist, and he was a

master of barges, who (by chance) was seeing his barks laid up for the night. And from him I demanded the

hire of a convenient barge, intending to sail downstream to the Delta, that (during the voyage) I might

tranquilly estimate the wisdom which I had, and perhaps acquire more, and also take part in such adventures

But the bargeman answered me, saying: "No barges, O lord, can pass down Sihor to the Delta, now. For the

wild mercenaries of the Pharoah have mutinied at Anteiopolis for an increase of wages."

"But these, lord, are not masterless: for they serve Pyrrhos, one of themselves, a ruddylocked barbarian,

who has made Thebes (the sacred city of the ramheaded god) a byword through the Upper Land and the

Lower, requiring of us (as tribute) whole meals of the milk of mice as well as a ransom of much gold."

He interrupted me: "Lord, they league with Pyrrhos; and a share of his spoils keeps them in their quarters

"There is no strength left to us, lord, since the dread Pharoah Ptolemaios Lathyros sacked Thebes: whom may

Set snatch, and his heart be eaten alive by slowworms, hornets, and interminablytongued

"Peace, fellow!" I snarled. "Nor soil shine Argive mouth with barbaric imprecations. And know that I will

Then, indeed, the man wavered, curiously examining the money. But he said: "Oh, where were these

wellminted pieces struck? For they are overround and too wellstamped to come from a barbaric mint.

But, being aware that he was as much in my power as though the knuckles of my first and second blooming

fingers clutched the tender nose of him, and being desirous at length to make an end of bargaining, I

answered him, saying: "Whom I am, thou shalt know on a fitting occasion: but, that I am to he obeyed, thou

With which words, I stretched out my magic staff to the life giving river, whispering a certain Spell of

Summons. And the sons of slime surged up with great swirlings, the manyfanged farsweeping crocodiles,

while I slowly swayed my staff in rhythm with the inchantment which sang within me. But they came in

cohorts from far and near, with huge eddyings of the darkbrown water; and they lay winking in close lines

But the heart of the bargeman became like dripping in a hot pan; and he said: "Lord, I perceive that thou art

the Divine Hermes at least, with that wonderful wand: for none but thou, and only thou on a very important

To whom I gave a stern word, saying: "Be ware of opposing the counsels of Zeys, or of hindering Hermes.

For the minions of Pyrrhos have no more power over me than had the Makedonians of the Lagidai. But, even

"Dreadful lord," he answered at once, "take the best of my barges: for Nesamun my brotherinlaw, who has

more skill in boatmanship than I, shall indeed go with thee this minute in his own barge."

Having succeeded in my wile, I dismissed the Argive to see to the business. But I waited, watching the

crocodiles having their teeth cleaned and blinking luxuriously, till I was tired of their musky exhalations.

And, having given them leave, they returned to their stations in the slime. And anon, seeing that the barge

was being prepared very speedily, I bade the bargeman that his brotherinlaw should visit me; and to him I

gave order that he should take a stock of provisions, buying also a slaveboy of lusty form and a mind

incapable of fear, with other things which were necessary. Furthermore, I said that all was to be ready for

sailing at dawn. And, having offered two quarter ounces of gold of Victory queen of the stalwart stately

Anglicans to the bargeman for his charges, he foolishly refused the same, abasing himself to the earth as

before a god. But I, having ascended the gangway, entered my cabin, where I ate a melon and some cheeses

WHEN Day with her white steeds was come (most beautiful to behold), and the dawn was yet cool, then

indeed I examined my barge with its contents and its mariners. And I saw that Nesamun was a nimble and

mightily powerful youth, and that Yokkho the slave was slim and very eager, both stripped for work, and of a

brickred colour, with long black and white eyes, and closely shaven polls which they covered with a napkin

as is the custom among the Egyptians. But they carried girdles in their bundles. And I saw that the barge was

long and flattish, having two bulwarks. But there was a chief cabin in the waist; and the roof of it was like a

deck: but the low waist was open. And, at the prow, there was a smaller cabin, with a deck above it, whereon

a slave might stand to shove the barge off shoals and sandbanks with the wellhandled pole. And there was a

third cabin at the stern; and the steersman stood on the roof of it wielding the cunning steeringoar. But, in

the waist, was a lofty mast, with triangular sail of woven reeds and the cordage relative thereto. And, having

seen all these things, I inspected the baskets of provisions; and these were very grateful to the mind. For there

was fresh bread, and much wheat (the marrow of men), and many cheeses, and fruits both fresh and dried,

with jars of wine from Kos and Korinth, and vinegar, and condiments, and nuts. But, when I had given an

order, all these things were stored in the forecabin. And I bade the boatman and his boy to take the aftcabin

for themselves, so that their smells might not come to me, as I slept in the chief cabin, or took the air in the

waist, or on the main deck during the voyage. Not that they were in any wise disagreeable, being both healthy

and naked and constantly washed: but so I willed it, for (at that time) my stomach heaved at the odour of all

mortals. And, these matters having been settled, Yokkho pulled the gangway into the barge, while Nesamun

pushed out on to the placid bosom of Hapi hallowed Sihor. But, when they had hoisted the sail, a favourable

But I began to ponder the past: for this always has been, and always is, and always will be, my singular habit,

recounting in my dear mind every particular of the things which I had done, or which had been done to me,

weighing their worth and import and possibilities, rejecting some to fall into oblivion, but storing others in

my memory until such time when they might be used for my advantage. And, of all the things which I had

done during the last two days, there were two things which I regretted. The first was that I had left my magic

cabinet with the papyrusenkheiridion at Thebes; and the second was that I had left my priestly robe and

sandals in the cavity under the boulders on the plain. But, nevertheless, the mind in my noble breast bade me

be of good cheer, relinquishing all matters, even greater than these, without a backward thought; and going

forward boldheartedly in search of fresh adventures, and the more boldly as the more barehandedly, seeing

that greater wisdom is to be gained by the simple, and more blooming laurels are to be won by the absolutely

naked, than by the trained philosopher, or by the heavyarmed. Furthermore, the divine ones inhabiting

olympian palaces put into my mind an unmentioned and unthoughtof action. For I remembered the

prediction of Amenemhat, how he said that within the month I should meet him again. For, since those

words, Time had rolled back for me, so that it seemed that I was now actually living in the former lifetime of

Amenemhat. And, also, it seemed that (if these things were so) the friendly priest would be performing his

functions at Tanis in the Delta: to which place I, undoubtedly by the direction of the gods, was at that

moment proceeding. Wherefore, taking courage from the thought that, though I had not all which I might

have had, still, I had a great deal, to wit, the prospect of meeting a friend, the divinationcup, the crystal orb,

and the magic staff, beside my arms and my money all safely stored in my cabin, to say nothing of the

inestimable wisdom which I had so far attained, then, indeed, I became cheerful of heart; and set myself to

For, as I walked about my deck, I saw the stalwart Nesamun poised like some grand archaic carving in

carnelian jasper, at one moment lithe, and at another moment rigid, intent upon his business at the steering

oar. And, at his feet, across the narrow aftdeck, Yokkho was stretched at length, busy with fishinglines

which trailed behind in golden Sihor. All around were the rolling waters, bordered with leaves like living

emeralds; and, above, the great splendour of Ra flamed in the turquoisecoloured dome of the heavens.

Nothing broke the stillness, excepting ripples lapping about the wellcarved prow, or when the slave laughed

contentedly, drawing a silver fish from the stream from time to time and tossing it to flap in a heap below

But when fishes enough for a meal for my crew had been caught, for fish is a food which my gorge rejects

without even trying it, then I called Yokkho to me, demanding that he should soothe me with singing. And,

having fetched a certain well sounding harp from his baggage, he began to tighten the strings. But I saw that

the harp was an old one, very dilapidated, and the gilding and the paint were both worn off, leaving bare

wood to be seen. And also I knew it for the harp of a priest of Khem, though one of the glass eyes of the face

on the base had fallen out, and the face itself was so broken and discoloured that it was not to be decyphered

either as of a god or of a man. And the slaveboy said that, having been rescued from a sunken templebarge

at Philai where he dived for it, the harp had been damaged by water. For which cause, he fitted it with new

strings, the frame being still whole. And when at length he had tuned it, crouching on his hams and pressing

it to his tender shoulder, then he opened his throat and began to sing. But his song was in a rude metre, with a

p�an of praise at the end of every tenth strophe; and he would have continued singing even unto this day: for

his song was as interminable as that endless song of future Galatia which will be called Jean Fran�ois de

Nantes. But long before weariness prevented his hand from twanging the strings, I myself called for silence,

demanding the name of his ditty. And he said that it was one of the folksongs of the watermen of the

But when I had made an end of his singing, I gave him a small coin of no value to me, which seemed to him

wealth incalculable, he being such a simple little fellow. And, having praised his pretty voice, a most

innocent one and not by any means shrill, I turned to Nesamun demanding a meal. For, the sun being on his

zenith, it was my pleasure to eat before sleeping. And, having brought me cheeses and gherkins and cakes of

bread and fresh fruit and a jar of wine where I sat in the shade of my cabin, the mariners went ashore and

filled their own bellies with the fish which they broiled in papyrus on a fire. But, when they had bathed and

returned to the barge, we again set sail, Nesamun guiding the steeringoar, and Yokkho fanning me with a

But, while I slept, it seemed to me that I was wandering near the Treasury of Dreams which overlooks the

meadows of E�ru in Du�t of the gods. And the monotonous song of the slave still hummed in my ears. And

anon, as my manner is in dreams, I found that I was all stark, without a single stitch of clothing on me, having

naught but my wings and tail fixed to my arms and shoulders and legs at the back, wherewith I swam in the

air like a beautiful expert seagull, easily and enormously swooping. And I was flying finely balanced over my

former (or future) home in the kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans. Which place I

have well in memory, having known it, in the life from which I had come, and to which I infallibly shall

return terribly and invincibly armed with the wisdom of ages. But I remembered the limpid river, and the

little island with its precipitous cliffs save at one end which sloped gently to the water's edge and the

widestepped quay. And I recognized the distant riverbanks, clothed with oakforests and steep

pinewoods, purifying the air. And I looked southward to see the rivermouth far away, kissing the lips of

the innumerably smiling sea. But I knew, also, the small old perfect fortress of grey stone, which stood on the

summit of that isle, where were velvet lawns bestarred with daisies, and gardens of quaint herbs and sweet

old flowers, and the cedar tree, and the ghentazaleas, and the pergola furred with honeysuckle and white

roses and passionflowers and dripping with amethystine wisteria and asterial jasmine. And I saw the library

of ancient books for solacing my mind in wintertime when pinecones burn upon the hearth. And I saw my

three well tailed kittens, the white and the yellow and the grey, frisking round my tame white peacocks

trailing pearllike prides indignantly across the pleasaunces and neatly cobbled paths which lead down to the

boathouse. There also, I saw my electric gondogla, and my flatbottomed hugeruddered sailing

bragozzetto. And, too, I saw my sailors, John Marcus and Ermenegildo Falier by name, the last telling

horrible Venetian tales to my three servants, Bob and Bill and Roddy, having finished their day's work in my

house and gardens. But I swam in the air round and about the place, so near to the flag of Saint George and

the ensign of the Cinque Ports which flew from my battlements that I could have touched the bunting with

my hand; and yet I was unseen by any mortal eye. Wherefore I flew back to the Treasury of Dreams.

And I saw the Master of Dreams summoning a certain blameless Dream, to whom he said: "Go thou to such

and such a priest of Isis, who sleeps in a barge, near Koptos, on River Nile; and try whether he will receive

thee." And the Dream, having wrapped a cloak of pink and tinsel falsehood about him, leaped out through an

ivory gate; and dived down toward me, asleep, in the cabin of my barge. But, because he could not find a

foothold there (though he fought like a dog for it), he slank back to the DreamMaster, to whom he sulkily

snarled: "Lord, there is that on that barge which prevents me." Whereat, the DreamMaster (having smiled

and having dismissed him to his place) summoned another Dream, to whom he gave a similar charge. And

the second Dream donned a cloak which seemed to be woven of dewdrops and the eyes of kittens or babies;

and he leaped out of another gate, and pounced like a robin on my brow. And, with him, there entered to me

Belmarduk the god of Assyria, very brave with fringed vestments and wellcurled love locks. attended by

winged bulls and sphynxes and cherubs; and the heroes Gilgamish and Eabani came flatly smirking sideways

in his train. But Belmarduk addressed me, saying: "By favour of the gods of Khem, I come to thee in a land

which is not mine; and my message is that thou shalt be a king in Armenia, that is to say in Moxoene which is

called Magurturgadash in Na�ri." And, when he had said this, the travellergod departed as he came. But, in

my dream, I wondered very greatly, being overwhelmed with wave after wave of astonishment: even as a

stranded ship is washed by waves pushed by azurehaired earthshaking Nun, the lord of the ocean. For I

was ignorant of the cause why any gods should visit me, specially a strange god, or why Assyrian gods

should visit an Egyptian priest. And other doubts also assailed me. Wherefore, in my dream, I mentioned my

perplexity to our holy Mother Isis, the wise goddess, whose priest I was, asking for news of these matters;

and she instantly answered me by the mouth of Tefeu her messenger, saying: "The god of Assyria came to

thee: because the word hath gone forth in the hall of fate from the abode of The Supreme, the Dweller in the

Innermost, Whose decrees nor god nor hero nor mortal can evade." And the scorpionheaded god shewed the

Sign of Life in token that the Lady of the Marsh indeed had sent him. But, having done this, he fled on

uplifting wings to Du�t of the gods which is above Amentet. Whereat I awakened from my sleep.

BUT now the sun was near his setting, swathing the vast dome of heaven with arras of green and lilac and

rose and burning gold. And, on the floor by my couch, the slave had fallen asleep, with the fan still in his

hand, and his gleaming limbs stretched out, smooth, brickred, decently folded. But, the air being cooler, I

did not disturb him, but remained lying on the couch, pondering my dream. And, the more I pondered, the

less I knew of the manner in which I might assist the fulfilment of the Supreme Decree. But, above all things,

I was anxious to avoid the vulgar error of confusing particulars with universals, so as not to lose the fruit of

And, while I was thus meditating, suddenly I remembered a certain magic, by which one may learn a very

great deal of the future; and it seemed to me that, in this way, I might test the prediction of my dream. But,

indeed, it was the wellmade body of my slave, straight, quickening, and apparently spotless, meeting my

eyes while I thought on these matters, which recalled this magic from my memory: for it may only be done

with just such an innocent one. Wherefore, being awakened, Yokkho opened his fearless black eyes and

listened: whom I commanded to slip into the river, and to return to me fresh and clean. This he did. But I

inspected him with the most careful minuteness from head to foot; and, having found neither speck nor

blemish anywhere upon him, and his teeth sound and perfect, then I knew that he was worthy of my purpose.

But, having seated him on the edge of the cabin roof, with his legs hanging down, for there the light was

strongest, I placed his right hand on his knee, the palm being upward: whereon, with my Waterman's Ideal

Fountain Pen, I drew two squares, a lesser inside a greater; and, in each corner of the outer square, I wrote the

arabic numbers, Four Two Eight Six, with a Three between the Four and the Eight, and a One between the

Eight and the Six, and a Seven between the Six and the Two, and a Nine between the Two and the Four; and,

in the top of the inner square, I wrote the arabic number Five: but, under it, I put a fair large drop of pure

dichroic ink, purple black, having unscrewed the top of my pen. And, when all this had been welldone, I

bade Yokkho to bend the ridge of his supple back, looking attentively into the drop of ink, and telling me

what he should see therein. But, standing below him in the waist of the barge, I looked up into his downcast

eyes, very long and lucid and fixed upon the drop of ink. And the blackfringed eyelids gently winked from

time to time in the ordinary manner: but, being a very obedient slave, his gaze did not waver from the palm of

Then, there came a moment when the winking ceased, and the eyes became fixed wide open but still looking

downward. And, when I, with a low voice, bade him again to speak, telling the things which he saw in the

drop of ink, then, indeed, he spoke as one who at a long distance speaks to himself, very gravely, very slowly,

very solemnly, saying: "The silver god, pointing at the galley, slays." Then his eyes wavered, and again

became fixed. And his voice continued, speaking single sets of words divided by intervals as before; and he

thus said: "The silver god, in the temple, taking the bow which sings. . . . The silver god, in the ship, speaking

with the azurehaired god, on the white horses. . . . The silver god leading the golden goddess, from the dark.

. . . The silver god, and the golden goddess, before many gods and goddesses. . . . The silver god, and the

golden goddess on a throne. . . . The silver god, following the star." Having said these words, which seemed

to be nonsensical, he tired me. Whereat I smacked him, shaking his hand till the dark ink trickled over his

But, during the rest of the evening, while the boatman was sleeping, I made no more attempts at explaining

the past or foreseeing the future: for it seemed that this was not permitted. But I myself took the steeringoar,

dismissing the slave to seek more sleep in the waist, by the boatman. And, as we sailed along, I watched the

sky turning violet with an after glow of rosecolour fretted with green, which deepened into the clear dark

heliotrope of night sown with innumerable constellations, surrounding the whiteblazing serene moon. But,

when the slaves had finished sleeping, they prepared a meal, and I refreshed my body with food and wine,

But I inquired of Nesamun the name of the city which we were passing on the right hythe, having seen a

"Lord," he answered, "it is the city of Khenoboskis; and, on the left, should be the lesser Diospolis of the

Lagidai which we used to call Mutio. But, in the morning we shall water at Ptolemais Hermii, another city of

"Our stay," I said, "must be a short one: for I wish to come to Tanis without delay."

"Nay, lord, for who can see with his eyes a god, unwilling, going either here or there. But I also can fight, if

Now, when he spoke thus, I laughed without letting my memory be seen. For I remembered that his

brotherinlaw and partner had taken me for wingfooted Hermes, because of my strange aspect and the

magic inchantment which I did with obsequious crocodiles; and I considered that the reputation of godship

would do me no harm, But, looking also upon Nesamun, as he crouched before me in the open waist of the

barge, more closely than I had looked hitherto, I was ware that he would fight well, as one born for fighting,

being of a species different from that of other Egyptians. For he was a very mighty youth, in his prime, and

his four bones were large and very long; and, although he had no muscles as youths of other races have,

nevertheless his flesh was extremely firm and sinewy, and his skin healthily tanned and as smooth and

polished as fine linen. Furthermore, I marked the immense force of his supple shoulders and thighs, and the

strength of his loins and arms and deepbreathing breast. But, above all, I could read an indomitable

character in the poise of his head and the carriage of his body, and specially in his fierce young eyes, which

flashed so blackly and so whitely when his mind looked out on me. For which causes, I was not unwilling to

have such an one on my side. And I opined that my own not inconsiderable strength, and my wiliness,

together with my magic and my arms, all assisted by the fearless obedience of little Yokkho and the

intelligent force of Nesamun, needed not to worry about the resistance to be encountered.

But, nevertheless, I made my preparations. And, seeing another vessel coming up the river toward us, I bade

my boatman to hail her and to ask for news of the rebels. Whereby I learned that, having been driven from

Antaiopolis by Psalkos Memma�des (the Pharoah's general and governour of the lower Thebaid), they had

sacked Hisoris, and were now holding the very place which I was intending to pass in the morning, that is to

say Ptolemais Hermii. And, having mentioned that the rebel leader Pyrrhos was the mightiest warrior ever

seen in Egypt, the strangers scurried fearfully toward Thebes, adjuring us to turn and follow them: for, said

Having heard this, and having ordered my slaves to sleep by turns and not to come within sight of Ptolemais

Hermii before dawn, I rested tranquilly in dreamless sleep. And, waking while it was yet dark, we three

bathed one by one, not disturbing the sons of slime, and also refreshed our bodies with food and wine. Which

having been done, I instructed Nesamun and Yokkho for the fray, saying that they were not to concern

themselves with anything, excepting the swift man*uvring of the barge, instantly and implicitly obeying my

commands. And my first stratagem was to lower the sail, lest it should be injured in the battle which I

expected. But Yokkho was to stand by with the cordage, ready to hoist the yard immediately when we should

have pierced our foes. And Nesamun was to govern our course with the steeringoar under my directions.

But I buckled on my cartridgebelt and loaded my revolver. And, when Helios Hyperion had driven the

chariot of the sun about an hour above the horizon, we drifted on the current in sight of Ptolemais Hermii.

But, between us and that city, I espied a long and lofty galley, propelled by forty oars, hissing toward us.

A glance at the alert eager faces of my slaves shewed me that all was as I would have it; and, stepping into

the waist, I inspected the advancing enemy. The galley was crowded with mercenaries from stem to stern.

Red horsehair streamed from their helmets. The shields of some, who were Rhodians, bore the rose of

Rhodes. The others, as I learned later, were Karians. All wore white and blue kirtles girt with wellmade

swordbelts: but owing to the heat of the land and the feebleness of those who hitherto had encountered

them, they neglected their greaves and bodyarmour. The rebel Pyrrhos (most righteous of men) stood on the

prow, wearing a scarlet kirtle and a short purple military cloak. His helmet gleamed with wellforged brass;

and a plume of red horsehair sprouted therefrom. But the oars of the galley were pulled by enormous portly

A spear hurtled toward me: but, at my quick command, Nesamun zigzagged the barge to let it pass, and held

on a straight course as before. The galley swung athwart the stream twenty long paces distant. But I, raising

my revolver and taking aim at the rebelleader, bellowed: "Pyrrhos, I give thy carcase to the sons of slime."

And dark doom leaped from my finger and pressing palm, and sank into the socket of his eye. And his life

withered in the seat of wisdom, so that his soul fled gibbering to the netherworld. But the carcase, heavily

lurching, fell, purple and bejewelled, dully splashing into sacred Sihor; and crocodiles dragged down the

But the blameless mercenaries sucked in their breath during a full minute, being appalled at the sight of their

leader turned topsyturvy by a noise like the yap of a small dog. But Nesamun held my barge still, stem on to

the galley's side and twenty long paces from it, ready to leap forward or backward at my word. But I said,

very sternly: "Thus, O ye rebels, do I treat prepotence and audacity. And thus, also, will I deal with all,

And, so saying, I paused, while I reloaded my revolver, that they might evacuate their sites if they were wise.

But, recovering from their amazement, they took to hurling javelins; and the rowers bent to their sweeps,

turning the galley upstream and driving the dreadful ram against me. Then, indeed, did Nesamun give proof

of his quality, nimbly leaping to and fro on his narrow station to avoid the hissing darts and (at the same time)

wielding the steeringoar so dexterously that we circled round the cumbrous galley, always maintaining our

relative position. But I, partly sheltered by the bulwarks, fired into selected eyes or earholes of the rebels, as

their destinies presented the same to me. For the pure lust of fighting, which never before had really inflamed

me, had come upon me; and I laughed hideously in bloodthirsty glee as my enemies fell to my hand. And

those, in whose wet eyes my bullets quenched their bluntnosed heat in fizzling, tossed their useless limbs

when Death entered to drive out Life; and their knees slackened as they flopped into the river, where

crocodiles anxiously scrambled for morsels of them. But my last shot slew two Karians, passing through their

earholes, and also a Nubian in whose it remained. And the current threw the sweep, slipping from his dead

hands on to the oars of his fellows, causing a shocking confusion, in the midst of which I recharged my

But the rebelhelmsman was already a refection for the sons of slime. And, the galley having swung right

round so that it now lay between me and Thebes, I saw that the mercenaries desired to escape upstream, being

no longer inclined to have dealings with me. Wherefore, having sent fourteen in all of them to Osiris, I gave a

word to Nesamun and Yokkho. And, instantly, the sail ascended to the top of the mast, while the boatman

brought us about into a favouring breeze; and, as an eagle spreads his pinions having satiated his hunger with

BUT, as soon as the barge was going swiftly with wind and stream, Nesamun fixed the steeringoar, and

came forward with Yokkho to adore me. And, having laid their two bodies (gleaming with wholesome sweat)

at length at my feet, then they praised me in the Egyptian mode. But, when they rose up, we refreshed

ourselves with cups of wine; and the boatman collected spears and javelins which were sticking in various

parts of the barge, and stacked them in tidy bundles near the prow. But the slave brought sweet water for

bathing a wound in my left forearm, which had appeared to be a deep one: but, when the drying blood was

washed away, it was seen to be merely a scratch. And he bound it up, using the nimble tender fingers which

had waited so patiently, during the fight, to hoist the sail at the very moment when I commanded afterward.

But, when I had rewarded them each with a handful of Egyptian silver, I retired to my cabin, the radiant sun

And, once again I was disturbed by conceptions not of a restful nature. For, while my body slept, the mind in

my dear breast concerned itself about innumerable ideas, asking unanswerable questions. It was quite clear to

me that I indeed was living a new life: but I was not certain as to whether I was still a man, or really (as

people opined) a god. And I laughed at the latter notion: because I never before had heard of a Yacht Club

member (as I am, having compounded my subscription and never having been expelled), who also was a god

of sorts. But, god or man, I supposed that I still had the right to put the address of the club on my

visitingcard. And once more I laughed at the notion of leaving visitingcards on Gajus Julius C�sar, and

Marcus Tullius Cicero, and the whole blameless gang of venal (but Roman) oldfogeydom, whom I actually

might see in the flesh within a month, simply by crossing the unvintaged sea. But the scratch on my arm

smarted, in what I took to be an ungodly manner: for I knew not then that the blessed gods are ever so much

more sensible to pain than your mere man, having made men in a godlike image, but having given them only

the sorriest fraction of a godlike nature. And the Whole is naturally greater than a Part of a Whole. But I

persuaded myself that I was a man, at least so far. And, yet again, I laughed at the notions that I, a subject of

Victory, queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, was also an Egyptian master of magic, and, that I, a catholic

of the Apostolic Latin Obedience, on whose agonies of cold and hunger and thirst and mind maddening

loneliness the foundations of Westminster Cathedral were laid, was also a priest of Isis. And a doubt came to

me from I know not where, as to whether there were in fact any gods at all, beside those which men, are wont

to make in their own idiotic image, and (if, perchance, there ever had been gods), whether they had not all

retired from business, to die at their ease, having grown so feeble that mortals could handle them rudely even

before windy Ilion far back in the morning of time. Or, perhaps, the gods of the Argives had gone into

partnership with the gods of the barbarians. For there certainly were gods in barbaric places, and my eyes had

seen them; and I began to contrive new wiles for seeing them again one after the other, asking them to send

me back to my own time, if I had a time. But I became displeased with the frivolous manner of the thought of

visiting immortal gods who inhabit olympian palaces. And yet, I asked myself, why should I not visit gods,

who had been visited by a strange god, even Belmarduk the god of Assyria with his attendant heroes. And

that notion, that a god should have taken the trouble to come from distant Assyria to visit me in the land of

Khem, convinced me that (if indeed I was not in truth a god) I was extremely important as a man, being

certainly the sole representative of The Great Queen Victory, queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, in the

Egypt over which the Pharoah Ptolemaios Ayletes ruled. And that idea reminded me of my Foreign Office

Passport, and of the risk (which I was running) of being arrested as the possessor of an undecypherable

document. But I scorned that; and began to contrive yet newer plans for going to see the Kolossos of Rhodes

when I should have finished my business with Amenemhat at Tanis. And the last notion made me think of

South Africa, and the colossal man Umgugondlhovu (as the Zulus name the rumble of an elephant) whom I

had left overshadowing that country, with the hybrid horde of I.D.Bs. and polemic georgics, all the most

righteous of men, who infested his vicinity. And the notion of an elephant reminded of a circus. And the

notion of a circus gave me a foresight of the green and blue factions of Purity and Holy Wisdom striving in

the circus at Constantinople. And, from Constantinople onward, notions came to me in crowds, notions of

Turks, Bulgarian and Albanian atrocities, the traitors Gladstone and Asquith, the treaties of The Hague and

Berlin, the German Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, Karl the Great, Rome, Pontifex Maximus, Saint Peter,

strange gods, with whom I had no time to deal separately owing to a pressing engagement, but merely

checked off their names as the procession hurried by. And, then, having come back to the notion of strange

And, instantly, to me there came the last words of my dream, namely "strange gods," said in a fat phlegmatic

To which the strong tones of Nesamun firmly answered, saying: "I have said that my lord is indeed a god. I

myself am loyal to the Pharoah; but I dare not stop until my lord the god bids me. And he is asleep."

"Let us see this strange god who journeys in a hired barge. Awaken thy god, O slave, and let us see him:" the

But I, slinging on my revolver again, stepped out of the cabin. And, at sight of me, the boatman shut his full

red lips; and leaned easily upon the steeringoar, as one whose part is well done. But I perceived that a royal

galley lay alongside, which bore a very inquisitive negro, richly garbed and of hideously inconvenient

"I," he said, in a quieter tone, "am the Pharoah's private detective; and I stop all boats which come

"These spears and javelins," I answered him, shewing the stacks, "are branded with the Rose of Rhodes and

the Crane of the Karians; and they were drawn out of the holes which thou mayst see among my bulwarks:

into which holes they first were hurled by the rebels. Judge, therefore, whether the rebels would thus have

"That is true," I said: "for I encountered them above Ptolemais Hermii, where I slew Pyrrhos and thirteen of

"Doss thou say that thou hast slain Pyrrhos and thirteen of the mercenaries? Either thou art indeed a god, or a

hero, or a very great liar. And, as I take thee for the last, I shall detain thee while I inquire into the truth of thy

story. If it be true, thou shalt be compensated. If it be false, prepare to suffer certain torments."

Thus rashly he spoke, beating his ceruminous belly: but I, glowing with anger, said: "And dost thou, O

mountain of impudence, think that I, who have outfaced a whole galley full of armed Greeks, will be stayed

"Hear the voice of the god, and give ear to longarmed Psammy lord of apes:" the fat phlegmatic negro

But my blood boiled because my ratherlong arms were mocked by a blameless black man; and the lust of

battle inflamed me again, making my great strength as the strength of nineteen; and the ferocity of the

longcurving fiercely clutching claws of a crab inflamed the hands of me. For which causes, and knowing

that it would take a better man than a bloated nigger to stand up to me, I bounded from my bulwark to the

galley, terribly bellowing. And, alighting near my scoffer, I rent the welltoothed jaw from the head of him,

and smashed the rest of his face to a purple pudding therewith. Also, tearing his fingers asunder like a rag, I

split his right hand up to the wrist; and, so, I tossed him, devoutly hiccoughing his physical agony, as an

But I turned swiftly to seek another victim. And, on the prow, an archer stood balanced on long slim

straddling legs, drawing a brasstipped arrow to his ear: but its point was toward me. And him, complaining

But, being now well in the way of fighting, I snatched at my revolver; and, by chance, my hand touched the

magic staff hanging from my belt. And the potency of it caused certain admirable events. For, first, my wrath

cooled, and instantly died away: but I myself began to utter wily words in my usual manner, pointing the staff

at the crew of the Pharoah's galley, and saying: "Ye have seen the dire fate which overtakes those who

temerariously oppose me. Be wise, therefore. Stand not in my way: nor follow me too far. But draw off

But, when I had spoken thus with my mouth, I added the Spell Which Binds with my mind. And, being

bound, they remained whimpering, but as still as stones: but I, returning to my barge, washed my hands and

NOW it seemed to me, when I pondered the thing, that it was a misfortune. For, when a wily stranger desires

to pass through a foreign country for a certain secret purpose, it is but prudent for him to refrain from

marking his road with homicides. Even my victory over Pyrrhos, though the Pharoah would pension me for

slaying his enemies, gave me notoriety instead of the oblivion which I preferred. But the matter of the

facemarred negro was indeed grave: for he was an officer of the Pharoah. For which cause, I perceived that

the blessed gods would have me in Tanis without delay, that I might find my friend there and perform my

business in seclusion. For a man may seclude himself far more easily in a city (excepting in a certain city)

than in the open country. So, for three days, I sailed in peace, resting my body, but contriving many new

But the possession of the barge and of the two slaves weighed upon me. For, having considered that I was

going to a strange place, in search of one of whose existence in the flesh I had no actual knowledge, I

determined that it is well (in all warfare) to provide a base for operations, and one which can he moved upon

occasion. And it seemed to me that the barge and the slaves were precisely what I wanted. Yet I did not know

whether they would serve me willingly at the end of the voyage for which they had been engaged; and, in a

delicate matter, I will have none but willing and (indeed) devoted assistants. With these notions in my mind,

therefore, I used winged words, questioning Nesamun and Yokkho while they piously shaved each other's

heads. And I elicited that, when Nesamun's sister married the Argive bargeman at Thebes, the two mariners

joined together in partnership, Nesamun being owner of the barge which I had on hire, and the three barges

which we had left at Thebes being the property of his brotherinlaw. Also, I learned that Yokkho was the

son of another sister of Nesamun, both his parents being some time guests of the Divine Osiris in Amentet.

Moreover, I learned that both were perfectly free to dispose of themselves as they pleased, and that on

reaching Tanis nothing remained expected but that I should dismiss the youth and the boy with a gift, for they

refused to take hire from a god: they, then, in the ordinary way, would convey another passenger upstream,

But, after I had heard all these things, and while I was weighing them in my mind, Nesamun and Yokkho

crept nearer, laying themselves out at length on their faces very straight at my feet, and begging me not to

send them away. And I, having considered their intelligence and fidelity not less than their agility and

strength and quite singular comeliness, did not peremptorily deny them. For, in fact, the Nesamunity of

Nesamun and the Yokkhoism of Yokkho were far from displeasing me. Moreover, the words which Yokkho

had intoned, when he looked into the palmmirror, suddenly climbed out of my memory and buzzed at me.

He, indeed, had chaunted: "The silver god, pointing at the galley, slays:" and undoubtedly I (not old but

silverhaired, and a god as they called me) had slain Pyrrhos and certain few on a galley, pointing my

deathspitter at his eye. But that was only one of the things which the clear seeing slave had predicted,

being the first of his utterances; and, perchance, the others also would be fulfilled in their order. And I

became sorrowful because I had smacked the clear seer nor paid due heed to his sayings. But, calling on

Memory for a really violent effort, I recollected the seven predictions, each in its turn, writing them in my

handbook; and I perceived that, next, the silver god would take a singing bow in a temple. Now, supposing

myself to be the silver god, it was quite certain that I was about to visit a temple, seeking Amenemhat; and I

opined that, there, I should engage in some adventure of a singing bow at the pleasure of the gods. Which

adventure I began very eagerly to anticipate. But, meanwhile, Nesamun and Yokkho lay stretched at length

And I determined that it would be greatly to my advantage to have the commodious barge at hand, as a base

of operations, as a retreat, or as a means of retirement, should such be desirable. And I also determined that

good slaves, who are willing slaves, are very hard to find, and (when found) ought to be cherished and used

rather than rejected and wasted. And, lastly, I determined that these two, being wellmade in mind and body,

were very proper subjects for my magic arts, and likely to be of inestimable value. For which causes, I

granted their petition. And, having bought their persons from themselves, paying two gold quarterounces to

Nesamun for himself and one to Yokkho for himself, I bought also the barge and its apparatus from Nesamun

for another gold quarterounce, all in the coinage of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans. And so

But, during the last hour of my journey, I cut (from one of the Rhodian javelins) the little wooden emblem

which none know save only the priests of Isis, without which none may penetrate the sanctuaries of temples.

And I added it to the implements which I was to take with me on my quest of Amenemhat. And, having

concealed all my other gear beneath the floor of my cabin in the presence of my slaves, in their view also

(using my magic staff) I summoned the sons of slime, committing the charge of my goods to Nesamun and

Yokkho, with a crowd of inchanted crocodiles for witnesses, whom anon I dismissed with the Word.

Thus we came to the last reach leading to Tanis which sits on both hythes of the river. But, skimming

onward, we passed the little fane of Pasht, marking the site of the old citywall which the hordes of Okhos

had destroyed in the days when Nekt Nebf was the Pharoah. And we found a small quay below the city,

secluded and abandoned, very suitable for a voyager desirous of privacy. But here my journey ended.

And, as soon as the barge was anchored, I sent Nesamun girded into the city to buy a length of fine linen, and

to replenish my store of victuals and drink. Furthermore, I bade him to buy for me a necklace of heliotrope

stones and a posy of fresh marigolds, for a new wile which I had invented. And, when the slave returned, I

made a priest's surplice of fine linen, wherewith I vested my body, placing beneath it various convenient

matters. But, when I appeared as a priest to them, I bade the slaves to clean the barge, and to pitch it within

and without with pitch of Zakynthos (which pitch is the best), and also to keep it ready to start on a new

Thus I spoke; and instantly I stepped ashore. But, when the two slaves popped their heads above the bulwark

to observe my going, then, indeed, I rubbed the marigolds in my hand against the necklace of bloodstones

which I wore, moistening the beads with the flowerjuice; and, having made the proper Act of Will, I

forthwith vanished away, simply becoming invisible at two paces' distance, and all in broad daylight. And

this I did as very becoming to a god, and also to confirm them in fidelity, for a slave will not play his lord

BUT I wended my way through the city, having taken my visible shape again in a dark entry. And I passed

the walls and the gates, and the temples with their pylons, and quays thronged with merchants of all nations

and slaves of all human colour. And I saw the galleys of the Sidonians, and the light barks of the Sikels, with

heavy merchantships from Rome, and Argive biremes and trading sloops. But a great quinquereme lay in

the fairway of the mighty river; and it flew the royal purple standard of the Lagidai, denoting that a prince of

Egypt was on board. And, everywhere about me were the insolent mercenaries of the fluteplaying Pharoah,

standing in crowds: nor did any soldier stand alone, save the sentry on the great ship which swang at anchor

in the current of the Tanitic branch of life giving Sihor. Yet, great and busy as it appeared, Tanis had but a

small part of the shadow of its former greatness when it was the chief city of the Lower Land. Slowly and

surely had that greatness faded, as a wellpainted wall fades unsheltered from the stress of storms in some

northern land, when wind and rain wipe away the fresh pigment, leaving a tasteless thing behind.

But heavenly Ra poured down very hot radiance from the turquoisecoloured vault of heaven; and the streets

were crowded with evilstenched mongrel folk, halfArgive, halfsons of Khem, mingled with the Hebrew

hawkers who trot everywhere. And, because the mind in my lordly breast desired to pass a word with

articulatelyspeaking men, I looked about for one with whom I might suitably address myself. And I selected

a haughty Roman, wrapped in pride and a purplebordered paludament, who surveyed the quays and the

marketplace, while a slave sheltered his bare head with a sunshade of ostrich feathers. Whom I approached,

intending to converse with him. And, coming nearer, while a squadron of Makedonians passed by, I heard the

blameless creature muttering to himself in his own tongue, saying: "Gods! That men calling themselves

soldiers should slouch in that manner! Perpol! But a cohort of ours would outmatch a legion of theirs!"

But I let the pride of race inflate me also, most superbly; and thus, in the Argive tongue, I saluted him,

saying: "Hail, O senator. And how likest thou these mercenaries of the Lagidai?"

But he began to grow black fastidiously, because one unknown should have addressed him without

introduction: but, when he saw how large I was and how assured my gait, he answered me in Latin, saying:

"O man of the vast shoulders, whoever thou art, speak to me (I pray) in the language of Rome."

To whom I repeated my question as he wished. And he responded: "Indifferent well. But tell me, why dost

Him I immediately coughed at, saying: "Never yet have I been told that Roman citizens are the gods whom

Whereat, having blown off a little indignation, he laughed hugely; and would have known more of me; but I

indifferently turned away to hire a litter in which I caused myself to be borne to the great temple of Isis.

But, when I reached that place, I began to walk very warily, making inquiry of the priest on duty in the

portico. And, because the most wily way of dealing with earthwalking men, enmeshed with stupid petty

deceits, is to be quite truthful and quite straight and never anything but bold, therefore, I instantly asked for

my friend Amenemhat, priest of Tanis, who, being bound to me by sacred spells, would (with me) enjoy a

mutual pleasure from a meeting. And, Amenemhat not being an uncommon name among Tanitic priests, if

(perchance) my inquiry should bring to me one who was not the Amenemhat whom I desired to see, then I

still possessed sufficient wisdom and magic apparatus for disposing of him in a suitable manner. On this

And the watcherpriest answered, saying that Amenemhat was engaged in celebrating mysteries, and could

not be seen at the moment. To whom I shewed the Sign of the Peeping Thumb, saying that I (also being a

priest) would enter and pontificate with my friend. But the other still delayed me with gentle words, saying:

"Sir, I do perceive that thou art a very notable mage and also an initiate priest possessing singular and

admirable secrets: for, up thy sleeve, I see the silver chain which binds a master's staff to thy wrist.

Nevertheless, our rites are so sacrosanct and so solemn that not even the high priest of Ra at Thebes may

intervene in them. Wherefore, O mastermage, be propitious; and be pleased to repose thyself awhile in a

cool room, refreshing thy body with fruit and wine: for the day is hot, and thou seemest to have come from

But I agreed with alacrity, for my throat was twisted with thirst. Moreover, I saw something; and, beside, I

wellknew the ways of priests, who always may be led by the nose by anyone wily enough to agree with

them. And together we strolled into a cool antechamber, having an apsidal recess wherein we seated

ourselves on cushions. And, over the recess, was carven a winged image of the Divine Ma, as above the

Pharoah's throne, deep graven in the black rock of Syene and filled with fine red gold. But the

watcherpriest, having named himself to me as Mensau, tapped the floor with his white ivory walkingstaff;

and acolyths of the temple, very straightly formed but plump, robed in fine linen, with their shaven heads

roundlyshining and increasing the long blackness of their eyes,these, indeed, brought trays of fruits and

wines and a excellent beer of their own brewing. And, having laid them before us, they flitted away, leaving

me alone with the priest. He seemed to be about my own age, whatever that may be: but he was straight in

figure as the fragile Egyptians are, and his face was like smooth ivory, well carved, wise and gentle of mien.

And, having filled a cup of Korinthic bronze (which is platinum) to the brim with good red wine from a

wellchased Alexandrian flagon, he offered it to me. But I chose beer: so he took it for himself; and, leaning

toward me watching him very warily, he began to speak, saying: "Health to thee, O expected Wanderer."

But my wile was to lead him on, secretly compelling him to shew me the way to the very root of the mystery,

which I had suspected, and now was assured of. Wherefore I, all unmoved, responded, saying: "Health also to

thee, O Mensau, priest of Isis, who wearest the garb of a priest of Ptah perchance for coolness' sake. And, as I

perceive that thou knowest me, tell me now how long will that other deny himself to me."

"Yea: I know well the Amenemhat who looketh out of thine eyeholes. But thy form is strange to me:" I

Thus I spoke. But the mind in my noble breast began all of a sudden to tell me all sorts of things: so that I

knew that the form, in which I had known Amenemhat at Thebes, was a form which I myself had given him

by the merest haphazard and in something like a violent hurry, having summoned him from tiresome

Amentet, to be my familiar, and being unable to use him in the form of hot eyes and a jelly. And, also, I knew

that I never had seen him in his own form, which his father and mother had made for him by the help of the

gods of his stars. And, having understood all these things, I fell into a muse, because of the infinite number of

causes and effects which a seeker after wisdom must acquire, and arrange in his mind ready for use at any

But, even now, weighted and bedazzled as I was with unthoughtof wisdom, all was not quite clear to me. I,

therefore, continued to speak, saying: "Nevertheless, O Amenemhat, though I know thee, and though I am

beginning to know thy real form which is other than that which I gave to thee at Thebes, still, my mind is

doubtful, not of the What, nor of the Where. The dimension of Space is known to me: but what of Time? I

understand the Categories of Substance, of Quantity, of Quality, of Relation, of Action, of Passion, of Place,

of Position, of Possession: but I do not understand the When. Have I already lived and summoned thee from

Amentet nineteen hundred years hence? Am I living now another life nineteen centuries before I was born?

Or is this all some dream and some weird vision in those secret halls of Thebes? Or what?"

"Nay," Amenemhat answered: "this is neither dream nor vision, but a special disposition of The Supreme,

whereby thou, O Seeker after Wisdom, art granted experiences granted to no other man, as a reward for thy

wellendured pains, and as a means of perfecting thee for some enormous purpose. And, to this end, I, whom

thou hast known as a Sahu and an Osirian, have a message for thee, O Wanderer through the Ages. Doubt,

then, no more: but take all things as the immortal gods are pleased to send them, always going onward

cheerfully from one step to the next. For, know, that in Amentet, and in the Outer Immensities of

Immeasurable Space, where The Supreme is, there is no such limitation as Time, nor any Impossibility to

Thus he spoke; and again was silent. But I sat still, drinking the beer of Osiris, letting the wisdom of his

words take root in my lordly mind. And anon I said: "This, then, indeed is the meeting of thy Theban

prediction. But tell me, O Amenemhat, though thou didst expect me, by what means did these eyes of shine

"I recognized thee, O Nicholas," he said, "even at a distance, by thy stride and by the selfassurance of thy

gait of the straightened knees: for no other man walketh as dost thou, as the owner and scorner of all worlds

old and new. But, also, I saw the shape of the orb of divination in the folds of thy robe; and thou didst make

And so we fell into more intimate conversation; and I told him all which had befallen me during my voyage

down the river, of the slaying of that Pyrrhos (the most righteous of men), of the blameless Ethiopian whose

face I had spoiled, tearing also his hand (like a dirty rag) in twain; and I spoke of my two trusty slaves, and of

all other matters which it was necessary for him to know. But, when I saw that he was not minded to make

revelations to me on the instant, then, indeed, I determined to stay awhile with him, as a guest of the temple,

pursuing my studies in the magic arts among holy mages whose business was none other, and waiting the

But, during this month of waiting on the will of the gods (for it was no more than that), a certain thing was

done by me, at the suggestion and with the aid of Amenemhat, which I will set down here in its place. For, it

being evident to both of us that my lot was to move through time, getting wisdom by living many lives in

various circumstances, Amenemhat used to speak of the comfort which I should derive from constant

companions throughout my wanderings. But I, knowing the sort of man which I am, and not by any means

loving, used to respond to him saying, that it was not the perpetual companionship of an equal which would

delight me, so much as the perpetual readiness of comely and trustworthy and affectionate slaves, whose

services I could command at pleasure or neglect if I thought well so to do. But Amenemhat, having perceived

the alert intelligent faithful minds and the pleasing and powerful bodies of Nesamun and Yokkho, inquired

whether such as these would suit me. To whom I answered, saying, that I had them in my mind when thus

speaking. Wherefore, Amenemhat suggested that I should perform the two magics called The

SoulLoosening and The LifeBinding, whereby the silver cords which tied the said Nesamun and Yokkho

to their present forms might be loosed, so that (at a moment's notice) they might migrate to other forms of my

invention, and, also, that by binding their lives to my life, the said slaves might accompany me into

But I, when I had pondered the matter, found it very desirable indeed. For which cause, having obtained the

consent of the two, very gleefully given when (without any concealment) I described the whole project to

them, for (beside being fearless and very eager for adventures) they deemed me godlike, and desired nothing

less than to be left behind when I should go forward, then, having brought them to a sacred part of the vast

temple, where their screams would be inaudible, I and Amenemhat did what was necessary on the bodies,

first of little Yokkho, and then of Nesamun, in such a dexterous manner that they suffered not more pain than

they could bear without swooning: but I shall not describe the process on account of a religious reason. Nor

could any earthwalking man, mage or simple, find out any difference in them afterward, unless (by chance)

he should hap upon the tiny and almost invisible silvercoloured puncture in the rosy breastflower (but

which one it was of their breastflowers I decline to indicate, for both breastflowers are punctured on both

of them, yet only one puncture on each of them is an exit), through which Nesamun and Yokkho became able

to leave their Egyptian bodies, and to follow me through time, as easily as they could leave my barge by the

BUT it was well that the thing was done when it was welldone. For, a few months later, the occasion for

Now I had been very diligently studying such magic of the Tanitic priests as I did not know, to fill up the

interval until Amenemhat should be moved by the blessed gods to deliver his message. And, among other

matters where improvement seemed desirable, it was put into my mind to try a new method of imbalming the

dear remains of the dead, which method (I believed and believe) not only prevents the mummy from

shrivelling and going black or dry or discoloured in any way, but also preserves the exact freshness of

appearance and condition which it had enjoyed while used as the temporary vesture of the soul, excepting the

condition of life. But, because I found it unwise to make my experiments on the corpses of persons who had

spoiled the pristine beauty of their bodies by overlong or overarduous usage, I and Amenemhat preferred

those of such acolyths of the temples whose souls wellplumed Thoth had been directed to escort elsewhere

without first afflicting their forms with loathsome diseases. But, because all the temples of Tanis supplied no

more than two such corpses within the month, Amenemhat sent both wind messages and ibismessages to

other temples of other cities stating our needs. And, when we had treated without emptying eight wellmade

blooming bodies, with imperishable quintessences of unmentionable virtue and inconceivable fragrance, then

we anointed them nine times in every part, under the nine proper stars, using a liquid unguent, preservative,

which perseveres through all time and disgusts worms. But the fame of our handicraft went abroad, so that all

the hierarchies of Khem desired to have their dead acolyths mummied in the new manner for the benefit of

the temples. For which cause, it happened that I went to Alexandria in my barge to inspect a corpse so perfect

that I brought it away with me, intending to treat it; and, on my return, I became imbroiled in the streets of

The priests attending Amenemhat had taken the beautiful body from my barge and were gone on their way to

the temple of Isis. But I remained behind during a little while, inspecting the diligence of my slaves,

wellshaven, performing prescribed purifications. And anon, later in the evening, I proceeded by quiet

byways toward the temple where Amenemhat awaited me. But, on my way, I encountered a troop of land

mercenaries, blameless Sithonians and Mygdonians, escorting the litter of one of the Lagidai, a brother of the

Pharoah's favourite wife. And they were rudely brushing everyone from their path, not being at all affable.

But by chance, a certain aged philosopher, Melkas by name, who taught daily in the porch of the Serapion,

was about to cross the road. His eyes were dim, his step infirm, his pace tardy and grave. Wherefore, I tried to

help him into the shadow of a portico; and did so, but not before a Sithonian, seeing the length of my arms,

had yelled at me, clipping the Argive tongue, "Ho, there, Apeman, stand aside before thy betters!"

But instantly divine anger inflamed my lordly mind. And boldly affronting the mocker, I broke the crust of

his blameless face to pulpy fragments with fistblows, as a bear in springtime breaks a delicate egg. But the

puny prince in the litter ordered his guards to seize me; and halfadozen rash Mygdonians hastened with an

obedient start to obey. Then, indeed, the fierce and frolicsome joy of Saint Aldate's or the Cowley Empire on

a Saturday night came upon me, so that I delayed not, but I simply smashed the first four faces using my left

fist and my right like flails or sledgehammers; and, snatching a falling shield and mightily sweeping with it,

I shattered the shins of the others as they came on. Now, when they saw these things, the shrieking slaves

fled, having dropped the litter. But I, by this time, had got into my stride, becoming very methodical in my

fury: for which cause I determined to leave nothing important undone. Wherefore, I butted the prince out of

his tangled curtains, and rolled him about with my feet in a pool of foul slime which happened to be near by.

And, all things necessary having been accomplished, I went upon my way with a calm and holy mind. Nor

did I bestow another thought to the matter. And indeed no one gave me news of it: for the city, in those last

days of the Lagidaian dynasty, was a scene of incessant disorder; and a few messes more or less, found in the

streets at dawn, were by no means uncommon. But, after four days, Amenemhat suddenly interrupted my

studies, crying: "Fly, O Nicholas, to the secret chamber in the shrine: for the Pharoah's mercenaries are upon

Thus he spoke. But I proceeded, without more ado, to the secret door; and, when I stamped on the right, it

slid ajar, so that I could squeeze by, and sidle sideways along the narrow passage which led to the secret

chamber. Now this secret chamber was a very wily one; and it was constructed after this manner: by the

hollowingout of one of the pillars which surrounded the shrine, but the pillar itself was (like all the others)

carved into the similitude of an important god. And, inside the hollow of it (from the secret crypt beneath the

temple floor in which I was), there ascended a very narrow ladder of twisted linen threads leading up into the

secret chamber in the skull of the god. But, at the top of the ladder, there was contrived a small seat like a

saddle, so ordained that anyone sitting thereon in the skull, having pulled up the ladder, was very much

separated from earthwalking men; and might (at will) speak through the orifice of the god's mouth quite

safely, and also might see plainly all which happened in the temple, looking downward. And the place was

used in the following manner. For the priests of the temple, being seated on the saddle and speaking awfully

through the mouth of the god, delivered themselves of oracles imparted to them by the Divine Ones, or of

revelations which they obtained in their trances or by sacred magic on account of a religious reason. Such,

But the lower part of the hollow pillar being dark, a studio of spiders, a thoroughfare of mice, and an abode of

most holy beetles, I made haste to ascend to the saddle, pulling the ladder after me. And, being there

conveniently insconced, I perceived Amenemhat hurriedly entering the temple by the priest's door; and,

having seated himself in his proper pulpit, he instantly began to intone the litanies, beginning in the middle so

that an interrupter (I suppose) might imagine that he had been thus occupied for some time. He, therefore

"Homage to thee, O lord of the stargods in An and of heavenly beings in Khezaba, O thou god Unti more

"Homage to thee, O Heru, thou dweller in both horizons, who, enormously striding, stridest over heaven, thou

"Homage to thee, O soul of everlastingness, O soul who dwellest in Tattu, O Unnefer son of Nut, thou lord

"Homage to thee, in thy dominion over Tattu, the feathery crown is stablished on thy head, thou art the one

"Homage to thee, O lord of the acaciatree, who settest the boat upon its sledge, who turnest back the

"Homage to thee, mighty in thy moment, great god dwelling in Anrutf, lord of eternity, creator of

"Homage to thee, who restest upon right and truth, O lord of Abtu whose limbs are joined to Tasertet, to

"Homage to thee in thy boat, who bringest Hapi from his source, on whose body light shineth, O dweller in

"Homage to thee, O creator of the gods, O king of the north and of the south, O Osiris, O victor, O lord and

And, having met with no interruption at the time when he finished these beautiful imprecations, Amenemhat

shook the sacred sistrum more loudly, and went on with the Address to the Rudders, saying:

"Hail, thou shining one who livest with the gods in visible forms, thou lovely rudder of the eastern heavens:

"Hail, thou dweller in the temple of those with shiny faces, thou lovely rudder of the southern heavens."

And, because the expected intrusion of profane persons was still delayed, when he had chaunted these

strophes, Amenemhat shook the sacred sistrum very slowly and very solemnly, and continued with the

"Hail, ye mothergods, who are above the earth, and in the netherworld, and in the house of Osiris:

"Hail, ye pilotgods of Tasert, who are above the earth, and in the netherworld, and with the followers of Ra

But, when he had intoned these words, the quiet rattling of the sistrum and the monotonous drone of his voice

were drowned by the clanking of arms, and by the blameless cries of mercenaries, appearing at the cedar

portal of the temple. Whom Amenemhat, reverend of mien and very hierarchic, sternly confronted from his

pulpit, saying: "Who dareth thus to intrude upon the sacrosanct shrine of Mother Isis?"

But the answer came from one, whom I (from my secret station) perceived to be an Argive of noble aspect,

large of limb, and handsome, and very gorgeously apparelled in golden mail with adornments of chrysoliths

and the plumage of yellow cockparrots. He responded to Amenemhat, saying: "I am called Agesilopodes,

"And what doth Agesilopodes, servant of the Pharoah, seek in these holy precincts?" Amenemhat continued.

"I seek the person of one Apeman, whose trail we have pursued hither: "the Khrysaspid affirmed.

"Thou seest," said the priest indifferently, "how many persons are present occupying our pews."

"I see but thee:" quoth the captain: "but nevertheless I must search in the shadows of all the most secret

"The rule," said Amenemhat, "is that the sons of Khem may have free access to this oratory of our Lady of

"Even in that case, he would have secure sanctuary here, unless he be pursued by the Pharoah's own sigil."

Amenemhat had a prostration at the sight of the royal but tipsy fluteplayer's cartouche. But, having (by his

wiles) caused the mercenaries to persuade themselves that they were on a bootless quest, he permitted the

search to be made. Makedonians and Thrakians marched slowly round the temple, casting fierce glances into

every dark place: but Amenemhat seated himself again in his pulpit, his knees closed and his palms upon

them, his head up and his eyes fixed, as a hierarch who engages in holy meditation while expecting the

But I devised a new and perfectly frightful wile. For, having taken three wax matches from my box, and

having frayed out the half of each match, wrapping the frayed part round the head loosely, as the men of my

future race were wont to do when they desired to kindle tobacco in a gale of wind, then, indeed, I kindled

them; and I dropped them, one by one and horribly flaming, from the god's mouth on to the plumed casques

of mercenaries who (by chance) were walking just below. And their horsehair crests instantly shrivelled

with appalling stenches, in flashes of fire which singed the soldiers' hairy faces, terribly, inexplicably: so that

they fled, fearfully yelling, having a most hideous tale, about gods who vomit fire, to narrate to their awful

In this manner, I dismissed wellgreaved mercenaries (the most righteous of men) from the temple of Isis at

BUT, when the place was clear, then, indeed, I waited where I was, till Amenemhat should leave his pulpit,

giving me a signal to descend and join him. For he directed my actions at this juncture; and it seemed to me

that he, being at liberty, understood what to do for my security better than I in my cell. But, after I had waited

an hour, stiffness invaded my members and tedium my noble mind. Wherefore, seeing that the temple was

deserted, and that Amenemhat still remained motionless in meditation, I came down from the secret chamber,

retracing my steps, and entering the shrine by the priests' door. But, having approached my friend, addressing

him softly by name, I perceived that he was indeed rapt in an ecstasy, and (no doubt) receiving a peculiar

revelation from some god. At whose pulpit I stood, watching intensely, having no more fear.

And anon he came out of his trance, with the usual eye rollings and shiverings and deep sighings for the

longunused breath. But, when his returning gaze lit on me, he began to sob very quietly in the manner of a

man, shedding no tears; and that is the most horrible of all things to see. But I was aware, from these tokens,

that he had had a revelation concerning me and portending a parting. For which cause I treated him tenderly,

And, at length, he descended from his pulpit; and, having led me a long way into the innermost recesses of

the temple, into a large hall which I never yet had seen, wherein were numerous unheardof matters, then, he

began to speak. But his words were unwinged; and thus he said: "O Nicholas, the hour of thy departure is at

hand. For, since the Pharoah's mercenaries have invaded this sacred place, it will be insecure for thee as also

for us. For there will be a blameless guard continually about our walls; and, though thou mayst leave once by

the secret postern, thou couldst not do so more than once; and it is not in thy nature to brook confinement.

Also, as long as the guards remain, the shrine of the goddess will be deserted and her gifts wasted for lack of

receivers. Wherefore thou needs must go. But, before thou goest, know that the wellfeathered shiny gods

have deigned to give me an order concerning thee and to send thee a message by my mouth, whereby thy

mind may be enlightened about mysteries of the past and a foresight of thy future revealed to thee."

But I, hearing this, perceived that very fine solemnities were on hand. Wherefore I listened attentively.

And Amenemhat continued his discourse, saying: "Thou knowest, O Wanderer, who thou art and whence

thou camest: but thou knowest not who thou hast been, nor who thou shalt be. But, these are the matters on

which I am to give thee information. For thou, Nicholas the Third, called the Crab, who art come from the

kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, knowest no more of thine ancestors than the

names of Nicholas the First who was father of Robert who was father of William who was father of Nicholas

the Second who was father of thy gentle father James. Nevertheless, thou (having been brought backward

through the rolling wheels of time) shalt know that it is the inscrutable will of the blessed gods to make thee

aware of him who was thy primal sire. And he is none other than Laertes, lord of rocky Ithaka, whose wife

Antikleja was the daughter of Aytolikos, whom wingfooted Hermes the Luckbringer begat."

But I began to understand all sorts of riddles, and many mysteries indeed were being solved. But the priest

was uttering his rede with the tones of one inspired; and I eagerly lent him both my ears. And Amenemhat

pursued his revelation, saying: "Furthermore, O Wily One, thou art to know this. For, seeing that the

muchenduring muchcontriving son of King Laertes, having wandered far by sea and land during the ten

years following after the siege of windy Ilion, set out once again on another wandering (but wherefore I do

not know); and was slain here, at the mouth of sacred Sihor, by young Telegonos, his own son and Kirke's

(that awful goddess), ignorant of whom he slew, now, therefore, it is the will of those divine ones who have

never lost their faces that thou, Nicholas called the Crab, shouldst pursue thy quest for wisdom reincarnate in

thine original person as King Odysseys, undertaking a third wandering, the course of which is not yet known

to me: but it will be known by me, and revealed by me to thee, in the moment when thou farest forth. For the

But, when Amenemhat had said all this, the Anglican portion of me suggested the placing of some term to

such seemingly nonsensical ravings. For which cause, I said, as stolidly as possible: "When shall I, Nicholas

called the Crab, find myself reincarnate as King Odysseys for the purpose named?"

But Amenemhat drew back a veil which was concealing a picture painted on the wall. And he said: "See here,

now, O Wily One, for this is a copy of that portrait of Odysseys Laertiades which is in the temple of Herakles

at Naykratis, a precious possession. Art thou like it, or does it resemble thee, O thou from whom it was

And certainly the piece did exactly resemble me, with my long arms and legs and my silver hair and my

wellsunned skin and the shy fierce ruthlessness of my visage. But I was not overanxious to begin another

life at that moment; and, for this cause, I would not be convinced: but I believed that the priest was deceiving

me with a portrait painted from myself secretly, for I had never seen the portrait at Naykratis. But seeing

myself likely to be brought to a full stop in the matter, I determined to use my magic art as a means of

And, casting a severe glance at Amenemhat, I withdrew my attention from him as one unworthy. But he

But I took from my robe my orb of divination, of rock crystal banded with silver with adornments of blue

moonstones; and, having placed it properly, I peered into its illimitable profundity. And all within was blank

and void. But I made an act of will, willing to see the Naykratian portrait as it was. And instantly it filled the

crystal void. And, having compared it with the picture on the wall, I was aware that they were alike in every

particular. But I gazed again into the crystal, making another act of will, willing to see Odysseys Laertiades in

his habit as he lived. And instantly I saw him there. And, having compared him with the picture on the wall, I

But I returned the crystal to its place, and drew forth my magic staff, signing the priest with it, and reciting

And he answered me: "After many lives thou shalt be once more Nicholas, called the Crab."

Wherefore I knew that these things were somehow so. And I gave him leave to continue. He, then, said: "O

Very Wily One, proofs thou desirest; and proofs thou shalt have, of a sort. Dost thou remember thy bow, the

black bow of Eyrytos, which none can bend save thyself or a god? And dost thou remember thy sword, the

sword of Eyryalos? I ask, for reasons. For, after thy death near Sihormouth, thy weapons were placed on the

breast of thy corpse to go with thee to the netherworld; and, when thy funeralpyre was lighted, the flames

leaped up, and blazed, and died to embers: but thy deathless soul was departed (where, I know not, nor dost

thou definitely); and there were no ashes of thy body: which things are a mystery all. But thine arms and thy

bow and thine armour, having been forged by a god, could not perish. And, now, thou art here; and they too

rest here in the secret treasury, waiting for thee to assume them again, O muchcontriving King Odysseys,

But, indeed, if any mindperplexing doubt had remained to me, this would have sufficed to dismiss it. For I

was aware that the prediction of my slave, Yokkho, when he said: The silver god, in the temple, taking the

bow which sings, was about to be fulfilled. And I arose, following Amenemhat with a joyful mind.

But he led me into a yet larger hall, having row upon row of ungraven columns. And everywhere there were

vast heaps of gold and silver ingots wellbuilded, with vases and cups and tripods of gold and silver and

Korinthic bronze, which is platinum, and sheaves of ivoryhanded spears with adornments gold and

chrysoprase, armour and shields of gold, elephants' tusks of monstrous dimensions, fillets of gems, and ropes

of pearls. But we passed through, into a smaller hall of a circular shape, having an altar in the centre, whereon

lay an enormous shield of silver, carved with various devices and set with crabs and moons in very pure

nonagonal prismatic rock crystals with balls of rockcrystal and blue moonstone. There, also, was a mighty

helmet of the same, plumed with the lofty waving prides of nine white peacocks. There, also, was a short

sword, in a silver scabbard inlaid with similar rockcrystals and blue moonstones. There, also, was a vast

black bow of a totally unheardof material, with a quiver decorated like the scabbard and full of

fearinspiring arrows. There, also, on the altarsteps, were greaves of silver gloriously carven, with

adornments of rockcrystals and blue moonstones, and a breast plate with the backplate and

shoulderpieces of the same so bespattered with moony gems that they resembled gigantic dewdrops on a

frosty field seen in the clear of the full moon. And, also, a large bundle wrapped in white buckskin was lying

And, when I had looked upon these things, Amenemhat thus addressed me, saying: "These are thy

godforged silver armour and thy godcarven bow and sword, O Odysseys. Take then thy bow and make a

But, when I took the great bow in my hand, it quivered and thrilled, singing a marvellous mystic melody; and

But, having drawn a wellwinged arrow from the quiver, I passed again into the great hall of the secret

treasury; and Amenemhat followed me, holding aloft his lanthorn; and rays of light from it flamed upon a

shield of burnished gold at the far end of the hall. But, though never (to my remembrance) had I handled a

bow since I, a little eager scolded and mockedat child, played my own solitary fantastic games in the

kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, nevertheless I bended and strang the huge black

bow of Eyrytos with the skilful ease of an expert. And the backbent bow throbbed in my hand as though it

were alive, itself taking aim at the shield navel. And the shaft sped forth, shrieking and humming in the air,

till it buried its length in the boss of the burnished shield. And, having done what no man but one man can do,

I doubted no long but that I actually was King Odysseys, the Wily One, Sacker of Cities, the Wanderer, the

But, returning to the inner treasury, I stripped myself all stark, and put on the godforged armour of

yellowhaired great hearted Akhilleys, which, formerly, my agile feet had won from Ajas son of Telamon,

arming myself with the glittering silver. First, indeed, I put on the beautiful greaves round my legs,

wellfitting to the clasps. Next, I covered my body with the white leathern kirtle having taslets of carven

silver about my loins, which Ares himself had worn. But I clothed myself over it with a kirtle of silver mail.

Next, I placed on my breast and back and shoulders the corslet of swiftfooted Akhilleys, wrought by

Hephaistos himself at the behest of Thetis of the sea; and the silver shining of it went to a great distance, as of

the moon. And I hanged from my shoulders the silversheathed sword, gleaming with moony gems, and also

the wellcarven quiver of arrows. And, on my head, I set the well made helmet, crested with the lofty

waving prides of nine white peacocks; and dreadfully the plumage nodded from above. And I took, beside,

the bow which sings, wellfitted to my hand, and then the huge and sturdy shield, whereon Hephaistos had

wrought, in silver and rockcrystals and blue moonstones, earth, and heaven, and sea, and the unwearied sun,

and the full moon, and all the constellations crowning heaven, the Pleiades, the Hyades, and the strength of

Orion, and the Bear or the Wain which there revolves watching Orion, but it alone descends not into the baths

of the ocean. But Amenemhat shod my feet with sandals of white leather, buckled with silver studded with

moony gems. And he covered me with a great trailing mantle, of silver tissue lined with white fur, having a

huge silver clasp of the crab and the moon. And the sheen of me reached to heaven; and all the earth around

smiled in the splendour of the silver; and a sound like the trampling of men's feet arose. But I stood in the

These things having been duly accomplished, Amenemhat left me while he went about my business: for,

indeed, the occasion was one for operating very mighty and singular magic, whereby I, King Odysseys, might

be sent on my new quest suitably attended and in kingly fashion, and not without my gear. But, when it was

night, the priest returned to me contriving wiles; and he said that all things were ready. For he had prepared

for me one of the templegalleys, a stout ship builded in the yards of Alexandria, pierced for forty oars,

twenty a side in a single oldfashioned bank. And he had manned the galley with rowers and slaves, whom

he gave to me as a sweet guestgift: but one Deythes was the mastermariner. And the galley rode at anchor

But, at midnight, having gathered all my goods which were in the temple, and having rubbed my necklace of

bloodstones with marigoldjuice so that I became invisible, I went down with Amenemhat to my barge by

the desolate quay; and I shewed myself without warning in my brilliant panoply to Nesamun and Yokkho.

And, when they had finished their adorations (for they naturally adored the silver god), then, indeed, I and

Amenemhat did the magic which we had prepared, giving to my two slaves new forms with new names,

whereby Nesamun came out of his Egyptian body, becoming Neandros, an Argive, and squire to me, and

Yokkho came in turn out of his Egyptian body, becoming Thalos, an Argive also, and footboy to me. And

But, when we had bestowed the evacuated Egyptian bodies upon the inchanted sons of slime, the mind in my

dear breast was perplexing me concerning two further matters. For, I knew not what worthy gift I could give

to Amenemhat as a parting blessing; and, also, I was aware that I desired to have something more in my

slaves than that which they already possessed, to wit, their ingenious minds, faithful and fearless, which the

gods of their stars had bestowed upon them, and the comely Argive forms wherewith I myself by my magic

art had endowed them. But then, indeed, suddenly, a very singular and unheardof thought illumined my

noble mind, which bade me to use a most potent magic inchantment of another age (and I never had used it

before, though I was fully competent in the circumstances), performing a sacred lavation, pouring a handful

of Nilewater upon Amenemhat, and upon Neandros, and upon Thalos, saying over each in turn the Spell of

the Three Who are One. Thus, then, I did. And the faces of the priest and of the slaves whitened, becoming

And, now that the time was come when I must part from Amenemhat, we two drew away to a darker corner

of the desolate quay. But the haughty wise eyes of the priest were full of unshed tears; and he spoke in the

secret tongue of the priests of Khem, saying: "Never, O Odysseys, shall we meet again, neither in this life nor

in another, till the cycles of our opportunities shall be fulfilled. But to thee I give the galley and her crew,

slaves; and I have placed a certain treasure in the hold for thy use and comfort. Take them, O friend, as a

sweet guestgift. And, so, fare thee well, O King Odysseys, whom may all gods of sea and land and air and

sky have in prime and perpetual favour. And this is the message which I have in charge to give thee at

parting: From the Depths of the Dead, thou shalt win back the Treasure of Hades."

But I ascended my barge; and, when Neandros and Thalos had rowed me to my galley, I mounted the lofty

poop, to see my goods brought aboard, and the empty barge sent adrift, for it was no longer useful to me. But

I gave commands to Deythes, my shipman, that he should shape a course for Sihormouth and, so, out to the

WHEN white Dawn was come, I left the small Pharos behind. Sihor had become brackish; and a favourable

breeze drove us out on to the unvintaged sea. My galley was indeed meet for a king: for all her fitments were

of cedar inlaid with silver and motherofpearl. Her foodservice also was of wellchased ephesian silver;

and her sail and her awnings were of thick white silk with vermilion bordures and fringes. Furthermore, my

mastermariner, Deythes son of Kimon of Naxos, was an honest man, an islander, as well as a mariner of

much favour with the Divine Ones who inhabit olympian palaces; and he had never lost a ship. Wherefore,

being aware that my equipage was quite worthy of me and of my destiny, I was glad.

But, when I came to ponder Amenemhat's last prediction, I could not understand it; and it behoved me to

understand it very speedily, in order that I might contrive new wiles and suitable: for, at the moment, I was

For which cause, I tried my crystal orb of divination: but I saw nothing therein. But, having next refreshed

my memory concerning the things which Thalos (who had been Yokkho) saw in the palmmirror, I read in

my notebook these words: The silver god, in the ship, speaking with the azurehaired god on the white

horses. And that I might know more about this azure haired god on the white horses, of whom the innocent

eager slave had spoken, I performed the rite of the palmmirror a second time, having summoned cleareyed

Thalos to me. But he saw nothing in the ink, though he gazed into it and sweated till he swooned from sheer

exhaustion. But I was aware, having restored him and having given him to be treated tenderly, that a far

greater magic was necessary to explain his utterance and the utterance of Amenemhat, to wit: The silver god,

in the ship, speaking to tile azurehaired god, on the white horses, and From the Depths of the Dead thou

shalt win back the Treasure of Hades. And, when the mother of Dawn, rosyfingered Morning, was about to

come again, bringing light to mortals and immortals, then my galley was alone upon the bluishgreygreen

But I was resolved to try the Rite of Thalattomancy, which is most efficacious; and it may only be performed

by a master and prince of the highest degree and most secret initiation and by a sacred ruler of the innermost

light. To which end, I caused Nilewater and other proper apparatus to be placed on the lofty poop; and I

made a proclamation to my crew, lest curiosity should overcome fear and obedience, that death in shreds

(lasting some hours) would be the lot of an interrupter of my solitude in the sight of all. And, having bathed

Within the square of four pentagons, I drew the four concentric circles with white chalk on the lofty

poopdeck, filling them with the proper names. Within these, I drew also the double circle for ebb and flow.

And, within the last, I placed a dish of offerings to the seven seagods and the silver divinationcup

brimming with Nilewater. But I stood between them, wearing the symbols of the Crab and the Moon: for the

Crab is a watery sign, and the Moon is the Governess of the Sea. And, having called on the gods of the sea

and the moon to be propitious, I burned aloes in a brazier, and I chanted the Spell which releases the souls of

the drowned from their torments in the netherworld, providing the forms of birds for clothing them, and

treating them to a taste of fresh air, so that (with their wings) they might veil the apparition of a favouring

sea god, an aboundingly holy awful sight not to be viewed excepting by initiates, as it is written: It is not

necessary for the novice to believe anything, but only to sacrifice his little pig.

But the cries of my birds, rejoicing in freedom for an hour, came nearer and nearer; and they circled round

me closely and more closely, till I seemed to be enclosed in a pillar like a cylinder of whirling wings. And, at

the moment of sunrise, the spirits of the moon came knocking at the gates of the waves to summon the divine

ones of the sea. But those spirits were of a great and full body, soft and phlegmatic, of colour like a cloud,

black, morbid, obscure, having swelling countenances and aspects ready to melt away like an exceeding great

rain about the circles. And their particular shapes were a king like an archer riding on a doe, and a little boy,

and a womanhunter with a bow and arrows, and a cow, and a little doe, and a vermilion and silver garment,

Then, I seized the cup of divination by both handles, crying aloud the magic Spell, and saying:

"Let him core with the oars. And the name of the oars is Making The Hair To Stand On End.

"Let him come lay the rudder. And the name of the rudder is Making Straight For The Middle.

"Let him come with the mariners. And the name of the mariners is The Divine Ones Who Have Found Their

"Let the mastermariner come. And the name of the master mariner is The Divine One Who Has Never

And I held out the cup of divination over the sea, flinging the water of sacred Sihor in a hemicycle of crystal

drops as far as I could reach. But the cloud of birds moved away with it; and hovered above a billow with an

agitated crest, which they surrounded with innumerablyfeathered pinions. Whereby I was aware that a

godlike form was manifesting himself in that direction. And, the dawn being fully come, I recited the

Then, the answer arrived, very thin and clear, like a cock crow far away in the stillness of a desertnight,

And the breeze instantly moaned and died; and the waves ceased from lapping against my galley. And my

seabirds made a great confusion in the awful calm, filling it with flashing pinions and plaintive

whimperings, and settling into the shape of a dome all formed of beating wings, in which I on my ship and

The floor of the temple of this blessed vision was the marbled water of the rushing sea, frozen mute and

motionless with awe. Throned upon white horses ramping along a curling crested billow, was the form of

wideruling seastilling earth shaking Poseidon, king of the ocean, with his court of white bodied nymphs

of the sea attended by scaly tritons. And King Poseidon said: "Much is permitted to thee, O godbeloved

Odysseys. For even I, forgetful of our ancient feud, am here to warn thee that severe ordeals of thine

endurance are ordained. And my rede to thee is that thou speed to Delphi, there to have sure news of thy

quest from the priestess of the Radiant Pure One: for we of the sea are ignorant of what may be intended."

Thus he spoke; and forthwith the vision dived in deep waters, splashing awfully in disappearing. But I was

left alone upon the lofty poop. Wherefore, having summoned Deythes, my shipman, I gave him his course;

and, afterward, I rested, for magic is much more wearisome than war. In this manner, I learned that the

seagods at least were propitious to me, and (also) that I was to go to the shrine of Phoibos Apollon at

But, when we had passed Patrai and were making Kirrha (which was the port of Delphi on the Korinthic

Gulph), it seemed good to me to prepare a gift, meet to be given by me, a priest and a king, to the domestic

prelate of Pythian Phoibos Apollon. For which cause, I took stock of the treasure wherewith Amenemhat had

loaded my galley. And indeed it was a generous and a godlike treasure. For there were wedges of virgin gold,

weighty, plastic, red as the hair of a lovely girl of Altino of the Heneti, with great cut gems in leathern sacks,

and vases and lamps of Korinthic bronze (which is platinum) wrought about with foliage, and tripods of

burnished gold fit to stand with those which limping Hephaistos made for himself, and chryselephantine

images of gods the work of Pheidias and Praxiteles and Lysippos, and bales of tissues of silver and gold and

vermilion, with other treasures innumerable. Moreover, there was a gigantic chariot all of silver, inlaid with

crabs and moons in motherofpearl; and the spokes of its wheels were images of the heroes, mighty men of

old, winecompanions and swordfriends of me when we beleaguered womanmad Paris and his Phrygians

before the walls of windy Ilion. And, poised upon the front of the rail of the silvershining chariot, there was

a silver image of Love, larger than life, blindfolded, naked, most alluringly proportioned, and his

wellwinged arms were spread abroad in the very act of taking flight. And there were four white horses, a

wellmatched team, to go before the chariot for the sake of custom: but their harness and caparisons were of

BUT, when we reached Kirrha, having harboured my galley suitably, I went on to Delphi with Neandros and

Thalos and nine trustylooking slaves, who carried a part of my treasure. But we were all disguised in sordid

garments; and the treasure was concealed in filthy wallets: for I was prepared with a wile. For, indeed, I was

willing enough, and even glad to offer gifts propitiatory to the FarDarter, lest he still should cherish his

ancient rancour against me: for time is of small account to the gods, but hatred may be an open fester for

ever. But, nevertheless, I (being myself a priest) did not intend to be skinned by priests of the Lord (of the

Silver Bow), nor was I ready to let them suck me dry, as a fly is sucked by assiduous spiders. For the good

Thus, then, I came to the fane in the laurelgrove; and I counted the glittering shields there while waiting for

my turn: for there were many suppliants that day, seeking an oracle, and giving gifts of red gold.

And, anon, the warden of the treasury, the most righteous of men with the pleated regard of a

notverygracious pig, bade me to advance and make my offering. But I grieved that men, of evil mind and

turpilucricupidous, should have twisted the good mind of the gods to suit their own improper ends: for,

whereas, of old, a suppliant's gift was made as a willing thankoffering after the Pythian nun had repeated the

words of the god, now, indeed, the treasurer would have appraised my gift, before admitting me even to the

narthex of the shrine where men may await the divine oracle. Wherefore, avoiding undue display of my

actual condition, and (in fact) wilily simulating poverty, I began by making reluctant offering of a tiny golden

ingot. But the blameless treasurer had a motion which made his mitre slip down to one ear of his, discovering

a corner of old skull red as a rotten bite of meat and giving his aspect something of dancing and elastic: also,

he snorted very contemptuously, like a camel of sneering nostrils; and (seeing me to be clad in an old cloak

and wearing no wellcrested helmet but a shabby floppy hat such as my wingfooted grandsire Hermes loves

to wear), he had a flapping of his fattish fingers, and cried out upon me, and would have sent me away. But I

doled out gold in morsels; and, as a Kretan, selling embroideries or incised stones to some blubberlipped

carrotyheaded chinless alien who screams with spasms of fury, lies in wait to see what the fool will offer,

so did I with the warden of the treasury, offering a little at a time, moaning prodigiously, till I wearied him of

And, at length, I stood before the hollow shrine, and I prayed to the son of Queen Titania that he would be

propitious and easy of memory concerning certain former regrettable occurrences. And all was still.

The bards sat hard on their stools, anointed ones, ignoble, stinking, and perfectly contented, in an odious

fraternity of dalmatics, listless, till such time when the shrieks of the Pythia should spinge them into vibration

Above the bards, the hierarch of Phoibos Apollon occupied a throne as archbishop, laurelcrowned,

And, anon, the holy Pythian nun, standing on the fumy grating with her python coiled about her feet, ecstatic

amid clouds of frankincense, shrieked, and moaned, and shrieked again; and her eyes glared, being fixed

The blameless bards sprang forth from their drowsing; and put on the allure of very intelligent men. The

archbishop advanced an attentive ear of the rose of rotten flesh. And the inspired virgin chanted, in the Delian

mode, with belllike notes and simple cadences, delivering the oracle which the fair haired god was

whispering to her mind. But she sang in the language of the gods, intelligible only to masters alone among

Thus, then, she sang; and the bards were dazed; and the filletted archbishop marvelled vastly: for very rarely

Thus, then, she sang, as her ecstasy intensified, floating her up from the grating all rigid, as she stood on the

willing air tenderly lifting her up on high. For fardarting Phoibos Apollon himself was uttering unwinged

But, when the Pythian nun swooned, having made an end of her singing, the blameless archbishop gushed

hurriedly down from his throne, very ardent, very violent, the crupper under his dalmatic waggling with

furies no longer to be concealed: for he knew the secret tongue; and he perceived that I must be a personage

of superior quality, though assuredly he did not understand the full import of the message, which (indeed)

could be known solely to the divine Bowbearer and to me, the bearer of the singing bow. But, because

(being a priest, and one of the most righteous of men) he hankered after the society of a person so openly

favoured by the god, he approached me, bent upon inquiries. And he made me the Sign of the Master

Architect: but I responded with the Grip of the Ruler of Nine. And he signed me with the Word of the Knight

of the Crab: but I countersigned him with the Word of the Prince of the Moon. We embraced in the Ways of

the East and of the West. Together we formed the Symbols of the Peacock and of the Ravens both Black and

White. But, when he shewed himself to be a Master of the White Stars, I, in my turn gave him my token as

Lord of the UltraViolet Radiance, further than which no mortal man can go in this direction. And I

beckoned him to slink back to his throne: which he did, very sorrowful in his heart, and champing his ancient

In this manner, I triumphed at the temple of Delphi, obtaining the favour of the god.

BUT, having returned to Kirrha, I went up into the curved ship, and I sailed propitiously southward for

Tainaron, dark, forbidding to strangers. And, while I was voyaging, I pondered the words of the oracle.

But, as I thought of these things, many remembrances crept out of my mind, crowding upon me: for, when I

was a liegeman of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, and also when I was a priest of Queen Isis

in the land of Khem, I had been oblivious of many great and wily deeds which I had done in the morning of

the world. But, now, I began to remember many things concerning lofty Ilion, and wars, and windy Fate, and

my sometime comrades there; and the black bow of Eyrytos vibrated in my hand, and my glance fixed itself

on the dazzling sheen of my huge silver shield; and the bow sang to me of implacable young yellowhaired

Akhilleys, and faithful temerarious Patrokles his friend, and fearless ruddyheaded Neoptolemos his son, and

magnanimous Agamemnon shepherd of the people and leader of the Argive hosts, and aged Phoinix who

(when a boy) obeyed his mother, and proud insane Aias, and Aitolian Diomedes of the loud warcry with

whom I spied on the Dardanians and stole the horses of Rhesos king of the Thrakians, and Idomeneys the

Kretan fierce as flame, and my own dear son wise Telemakhos, and, also, the blameless foes of the

rollingeyed Argives, to wit, pious runaway Aineias and accursed cresttossing Hektor, and old Priam with

his sons Lykaon and Kebriones and godlike Polydoros the runner, all blameless, and womanmad Paris of

the splendid body, and also equalhanded Asteropaios: nor was I unmindful of bandylegged woollyhaired

Thersites, the very ugliest man of all who came to Ilion. And, furthermore, my singingbow began to sing to

me, and it sang of the whitearmed slave Lyrnessian Briseis, and of the inquisitive Deidamia, and of

perfidious Klytaimnestra wife of Agamemnon, and of unhappy Andromakhe, and of prudent Penelope, and of

But the mind in my lordly breast busied itself with causes and effects: for I began to understand many more

things, and one thing specially above all things, this, to wit, that these heroes (my friends and enemies) strove

as I strove, and endured as I endured, and contrived their plans as I contrived my very wily plans, all for a

prize and a crown. And, further, it seemed to me that, in all my striving after wisdom, there was one branch

of knowledge which I had not considered even rudimentarily: for, as far as I remembered, I had never

permitted myself (as all other heroes permit themselves) to go stark mad for love of a woman. But that was

chiefly due to my nature, which caused me to hide my soft and hungry heart beneath a hard and cruel armour

of proof. Yet other men, not less brave (though far lest wily) than I, loved women, not coolly, as I had loved

prudent Penelope (whom I always used most respectfully and kindly), but perfervidly and even hairily and

with utter selfrenunciation. And I began to wonder why my wisdom had omitted to take count of rather

more than half the human race. And I began to wonder whether my comrades had gained certain rewards of

wisdom by their madness which I, by my wily selfcontrol, had not attained. For I suddenly remembered the

Now I blamed divine Memory: for she was treating me in a scurvy and niggardly manner, doling out mere

handfuls of all the wealth of notions and ideas which, from time to time, I had been used to store in her cells.

For the wise man ought not to utter a judgment until he knows all the matter to be judged. And I did not know

And, one by one, slowly, and painfully, certain other matters were brought out and laid before my mind.

For I remembered that the oldest and the youngest and the most venerated and by far the most exceedingly

powerful of all the gods is Love. And, also, I remembered that each one of us, who stamp on the

widebosomed earth, is no more than a moiety and counterpart of a perfect human creature. For, very early in

the morning of the world, Zeys Pampator cut all mortals in two, halving them, for a religious reason, and on

account of their ineffable prepotence. Wherefore, having once been a whole being, and being now but the

half of a whole being, all articulatelyspeaking men most fervently desire and pursue any other creature

whom they take to be their lost counterpart, that the two halves may again be mingled and fused in one: for,

as Plato definitely teaches, Love is the Desire and Pursuit of the Whole. For which cause, I was aware that all

men and all women needed nothing more than this, and nothing so much as this, that Love should work out

perfectly, each finding other, returning to the aboriginal nature. These things, then, occupied the mind in my

And, moreover, I considered how that I was going (obeying the Delphic oracle) where I twice had been

before, once alive and once dead, to wit, to the House of Hades, tremendous king of infernal shades, whom I

was to despoil of his treasure and the crown of all wisdom. Yet, still, I knew not what that treasure and crown

might be. And, having remembered thus much of the past, I held a sort of council with my noble mind, which

determined me to despoil that king of whatever might seem to be of greatest worth in his kingdom.

Wherefore, having summoned Thalos my slave, bathed and purified, I set the magic mirror on his palm,

bidding him to gaze therein, and laying a very strong spell on him so that he should have clear sight of that

And his little body became rigid; and his long black eyes stared; and the sweet sweat oozed like dewdrops

from his flesh, and he shook with fear, insomuch that I chained his arms and legs with my own hands as in

brazen manacles, forcing him to do my will. And, when I refused him permission to swoon, then his rigours

took him stupendously; and, being as rigid as a strung bow, he began to declare his vision, saying: The

golden goddess, sitting with her starcrowned brothers, in the dark, disdaining a victorious hero, and an

unmanlike king, and a shepherd beloved of goddesses, and innumerable warriors contending among

themselves. And then I could no longer hold him: for limbrelaxing Sleep, the allsubduer, drew him from

For this utterance was all of a piece with the divination which my same slave had made, when he wore a

young Egyptian body on the sacred river of Khem, saying: The silver god, leading the golden goddess, from

the dark. For who was the golden goddess in the dark, but fair longrobed golden Helen daughter of Zeys the

And who were her starcrowned brothers, but the Great Twins, godlike youths, Kastor the tamer of horses

And whose blameless homage was refused by Golden Helen, but that of the victorious hero Theseys, and that

of sandyhaired old impotent Menelaos, and that of the womanmad shepherd Paris beloved of Hera and

And for whom, but for Golden Helen, had innumerable warriors, my comrades and my enemies, contended

And I asked of the mind in my lordly breast, saying: Who, then, is the Treasure of Hades?

Then, indeed, the mind in my dear breast bounded with an unmentioned and unthoughtof joy in thinking of

these things, and in remembering also the things which were to come, to wit, the leading of the golden

goddess from the dark, the moving with her among gods and goddesses, and the sitting with her on a throne.

In this manner did I find out the meaning of the Delphic oracle and the spoil which I was to win from the king

BUT I went to Tainaron, where the hollow ship lay at anchor in a little cove to the west of the headland,

being too great to draw up on the black beach; and, indeed, at Tainaron there is no sand fit for such a purpose.

But I came ashore on a raft made of spars and planks, which the slaves of my galley pushed before them

swimming, thrusting the sea back with their strong legs. And the raft carried also my gear, and my

silvershining chariot adorned with crabs and moons in motherofpearl with its mystic charioteer poised on

the front of the rail: but my four white horses swam lustily apart, having no fear of deep water.

Not every day does mortal man drive down in awful pomp to the dark House of Hades. And, indeed, I did not

know the way: nor was there a sacrifice proper for so great an occasion ready to my hand. Wherefore, I

mentioned the point in a prayer addressed to my grandsire, wingfooted Hermes, inhabiting olympian

palaces; and he sent me a Dream, to tell me how to prepare for his coming. But the Dream said that I was to

build up an altar of stones on a mound of earth, and to make a fire, and to sacrifice my four white horses to

the areiopagos of the immortals; and, after the sacrifice, I was to feast with my crew; and, at moonset, I was

to cast fresh fennel on a clear fire, having dismissed all the lusty slaves to my galley with a commandment

But, when I awakened, the sun was close above the distant mountains, all ruddy with his hard day's course

and ready for the evening. And I bade my slaves to build up an altar, and to do all other things which the

Dream had commanded me: but they were unwilling to slay the beautiful horses; and they coughed horribly

when I did it myself; and they made no difficulty about thoroughly enjoying themselves at the feast when the

sacrifice was duly done. And, in the midst of the sacrifice, a portent was vouchsafed to me: for the smoke of

my burntoffering was not blown abroad by the evening breeze: but it ascended straightly as a column to the

sky above. And this I knew to be a very favourable omen, auguring that my sacrifice was accepted as

And, with a glad heart, I did on my shining panoply, the silvershining armour of Akhilleys, and his

godmade shield, with the singing bow of Eyrytos: so that I shone like the star which rises in autumn, whose

resplendent rays shine among many stars in the depths of the night. But I slung my revolver on my body, in a

secret hollow of my armour, having fed it full and made it ready to spit dire death.

But, when my mariners had cut me many faggots of fresh fennel, heaping the same in a stack apt to my hand,

then, indeed, I dismissed them to the hollow ship, with a commandment to await my return, all as the Dream

And, as soon as I was alone, I very eagerly began to cast choice twigs of fennel on the redlyglowing embers

of my sacrifice. And the sweet face of the moon became pale and paler, as the face of a dear woman about to

swoon; and she snatched up a few soft mists wherewith to cloak herself in her going. For black night was

creeping up the vault of heaven to overwhelm her; and she fled before him, as a maid flies before a blameless

Ethiopian slave, whose bestial nostrils snuffle as he capers meditating very evil deeds. And anon she escaped

with her purity. But I sat down to wait: nor did sweet Sleep light on my eyelids, when I contemplated the

Pleiades, and setting Arktoyros, and the Bear (which they also call the Waggon) turning itself and watching

But soon there was nothing between me and the darkness, excepting the glow of my fire. And I, being very

eager for an apparition, grasped the stalks of fennel by handfuls, flinging them on to the roaring blaze, till all

the world was awhirl with the fragrant greyishblue smoke beloved of my grandsire Hermes, beneficial son

And, very far away, I heard a noise as of the noise of a single thunderclap. But I was aware that it was the

clang of the great gate on lofty Olympos closing behind the wingfooted messenger who was coming in

But, while I was awaiting his swift arrival, I ceased not to feed the flame with the magic herb. And, suddenly,

I became aware that I was not alone. For a Presence was very near me, but hidden by the clouds of scented

smoke; and two glowing eyes were fixed upon me: also, from time to time, I caught a glimpse of horns and

Then, indeed, sharp Fear tried to lay her clammy hand upon my heart: as a boy of evil mind, desiring to

annoy his bedfellow, slips a wet toad into the white armpit of him sleeping. And I said to myself, in the words

of one dying: I am about to see Pan. For I remembered the adage concerning a man who is given over unto

sweet white Death, of whom it is said Let him see Pan. For, indeed, it is known that the faces of the dead

shew one thing very clearly, and that is that they have found out everything which there is to be known by

mortal man, and are satisfied, as we all have seen in the dear beautiful face of Diyllos: so that, in saying of

such an one He has seen Pan, it is signified that he is satisfied with perfect knowledge, having seen All.

Wherefore, for the moment, I wondered whether the crown of my wisdom was to come to me (by the will of

But the mind in my lordly breast instantly bade me to face fate with a brave and dauntless countenance: for

which cause, I summoned all my boldness, fearlessly gazing upon the glowing eyes amid the smoke, being

determined to know all which there was to be known, without counting the cost, and meeting sweet Death

unflinchingly and as a lover. Thus, for some moments, I eyed rustic Pan: for the silvan god indeed was

looking upon me. But, as white Death gave no sign of approaching me, I remembered that I had no cause for

fear, seeing that my veins were filled with the ichor of the immortal gods as well as with the blood of a man.

But, at length, Pan came out of the smoky cloud and stood before me, goatfooted, hairy. His voice, when he

spoke, was like the sound of leaves lying in the forest which sigh when some wanton breeze disturbs their

slumbers. And he said: "Now do I greet thee, O Stranger. And whence comest thou? And what manner of

man art thou? Art thou violent and wild and not just? Or art thou hospitable, and hast thou a holy mind? For I

rejoice to see that thou art not like other earthtrampling men, who incontinently die (a most foolish and

reprehensible custom) whensoever as they set eyes on me, rendering themselves unfit for serious

conversation, while I am aweary of the prattle of the children of hills and streams and trees."

But I made audacious answer to the simple countrygod, saying: "O Pan, folk say that I am both thy

halfbrother and thy stepfather: for I am King Odysseys, the sacker of cities, and prudent Penelope (who

was my wife) bore thee to Hermes, my immortal grandsire. Wherefore we should be kin of some kind, I and

Whereat he laughed merrily; and he answered: "Thou thyself dost not believe that tale, O wily Odysseys: for

thou well knowest that I am as old as Time, being own brother to great Khronos. Nevertheless, any god might

indeed be proud to call cousins with King Odysseys. Wherefore, tell me, O cousin, whence thou art now

But, ere I could open my lips in reply, the rustic god cried: "Aha! Who cometh here? 'Tis young Hermes, as I

Thus he spoke. But I saw the greyblue smokecloud broken by golden radiances flashing here and there.

And, looking, we beheld now the golden wand, now the beautiful swiftlyflying limbs shod with golden

wingedsandals, now the cloak of gold and purple tissue blown back from the body in flight; and, anon, the

youthful bird of heaven burst upon us out of the fume in all the inmarcesible splendour of nude immortality.

NOW that divine young one of gods came to me holding in his hand the halters of four white horses, all mad,

incomparable in splendour, tossing their heads, and stamping with their feet. And Pan looked curiously upon

us, while sprightly Hermes took me to his beautiful large breast, calling me Son and Child: for the heart of

the youthful god was glad when he saw the goat footed divine one with whom I stood as an equal; and the

sheen of my silvershining armour glittered with moony gems. And, first, he began to speak very eloquently

(as his manner is), having a tale to tell of the cause of his lateness in coming.

For he said that the blessed gods, having sniffed the savour of my sacrifice with pleasure, graciously deigned

to acknowledge the same by a gift. And, seeing that I had not hesitated to offer my only horses, those divine

ones were pleased to send me another team. Wherefore, four heavenly steeds were selected from that godly

stock which the indomitable hero Herakles won from King Laomedon. But, when quickeyed though

blindfolded Love had seen my grandsire about to descend bearing away beautiful horses, he had howled (that

dire intractable boy), only for the sake of annoying, saying that steeds ought not to be sent to me, seeing that

he himself (even Love) with his burning breath and widesailing wings was ready to come at my call to be

my beast, my bird, my bearer of burdens and deep delight for ever and ever. But, when Hermes persisted (for

the thing was an order from the Allfather which must be obeyed), then Divine Eros had betaken himself to

his bow and arrows, shooting through the bars of heaven's gate, so that more than nine times the halters had

been severed, and the horses had gone free, galloping here and there, till, at last, being caught and herded

safely out of range, they were led down to me, apparently docile and ready for the traces. Such was the

But Pan, standing by and listening attentively, saw how highly I was in favour with the gods of lofty

Olympos; and he stooped, picking up a sprig of fragrant fennel, wherewith he touched my two eyes, saying:

And instantly he was gone, I know not where. But Hermes laughed, triumphantly merry, saying: "Thou, O

my brave child, hast indeed won old Pan's favour: for few there be to whom he would communicate this

Thus having spoken, he bade me to prepare for my fearsome journey. But, while I obeyed him, he illuminated

my mind with knowledge of the ordeals through which I was to pass: yet he could not tell me everything, for

the time was short; and, as much of the rest as he might, he said that he would tell me by the way. For he was

going with me as far as was permitted. But I went even gleefully, having so affable and so splendid a young

But I yoked the white steeds to the wellwrought chariot, carven of silver inlaid with adornments of crabs

and moons in motherofpearl, whereon was poised the silver Love, blindfolded, naked, larger than life, and

just in the act of flight. But my grandsire examined my glittering armour; and, having approved it, he

wrapped me in my great trailing mantle of tissue of silver lined with white furs and clasped with the signs of

the crab and the moon. Furthermore, he gave me a heavenly amulet for my use and comfort, formed of two

chalcedonyxes having the similitude of eyes set in the Sign of the Crab in a silver fingerring, saying that I

would need it on occasion. And he let me twist long stalks of fennel into a monstrous torch, three stalks with

seven stalks and nine stalks, nineteen in all. And, having lighted it, we mounted my chariot, both I and the

Now the silver Love on the chariot was motionless and dumb, as the manner of gods is when they are made

of metal: yet it evidently was a very potent and unheardof magic, though neither Hermes nor I, Odysseys,

wily and knowing as we both were, fully understood it, for the divine ones inhabiting olympian palaces had

not manifested their will in this particular. For which cause, I stood in my proper place on the left: but

Hermes went to the other side of the flying Love, seizing the reins, and urging the huge white horses onward

with the shouts of a charioteer. But they plunged madly forth into the cloud of fennelsmoke.

I closed my eyes, smarting with the murky reek. But the flaming firebrand which I bore flared like a banner

far behind me: so that, though I love sunlight as well as any man alive, I gladly and joyously went

(goddriven) from the graingiving earth to the netherworld, dashing into the secret adit whereby the souls of

dwellers in daylight go down to the dark house of Hades. Thus, then, I went, to despoil the king of shades.

But we galloped on, at more than mortal speed, down the broad path, never slipping nor stumbling: for

Hephaistos had shodden the heavenly steeds, and Hermes drove them, mightily encouraging them with

shootings. And my firebrand, fanned by the wind of the speed of my going, flamed on the pallor of dead

men, terrorstricken, who were passing down the same road, like sheep unshepherded, toward old Kharon

We came to the shelving riverbank; and the Old Man of Styx drove many souls from our path as the

silvershining chariot dashed irresistibly into the stink of the putrid stream. But my lusty horses swam swiftly

to the farther hythe; and Hermes buoyed up the ponderous chariot with magic so that it did not sink. But we

speeded on, over sandy desolate wastes, veiled in impenetrable gloom. Fast and faster tore those untiring

stallions of matchless breed; and the whirling wheels span round; and chill winds blew in our faces, so that I

wrapped myself shivering in my furry cloak. League after league we flew, through unpeopled wildernesses;

and the earth became no more sandy, but thick with salt, which flashed back the gleam of my fastburning

But when I (being inquisitive) addressed a word to my grandsire concerning the phrenetic speed of our going,

and what should come thereafter, and the salt which lay by the way, then, indeed, he answered me, saying:

"The tides of hell are flowing fast; and, as we crossed Styx at the slack, so we must cross Pyriphthlegethon at

the full, or we shall not win through: for none may traverse those dread streams excepting at such times. Nor

can a man tarry upon the banks, by reason of the singularly putrid fumes arising. Neither may a man dally in

this wilderness of salt, which is sacrosanct: for every grain thereof contains selections from the body of a

dead man, and thus they are preserved against the day when they shall be required for use once more."

To whom I, without delay, spoke boldly, saying: "And what of those men who (by the sanction of the gods)

have not died until after they have occupied several different bodies?" For I was thinking of Amenemhat and

of Neandros and Thalos, and of the other persons whom I myself (from time to time) have metamorphosed.

But young Hermes responded to me, saying: "Know, O inquisitive wily and wellbeloved child, that, in

every body of a mortal, there is that which is beautiful and that which is hideous, just as, in every soul of a

mortal, there is that which is good and that which is evil. Wherefore, it is the will of Zeys, the Father of all,

that the evil and the hideous shall perish everlastingly, but the good and the beautiful blended together shall

And it seemed to me very strange to hear such words of wisdom coming from a youth, whose cheeks of

summer hue shewed not the tender mother of the vinedown. But he, Hermes, the powerful Argicide, fell

again to urging the heavenly steeds, crying: "On, on, to the house of shady Hades!"

And the gloom before us was illumined with a dullred glow, which shot up into the dark vault like a roof

above our heads: for, indeed, we were rushing into the very abysses of the netherworld; and the light grew

clearer and more fierce to us advancing. But, behind us, we left a trail of smoke from my flaming firebrand,

and a trail of steam from the straining stallions. And the cold wind died; and immeasurable flames streamed

upward from the river of fire, licking invisible heights, flashing and flickering. And I heart my divine

charioteer praising great Zeys with bated breath, for that we were come at a propitious time. For, as we flew

down to the blackened shore, our wheels drove heavily among the crackling cinders; and the flames died, and

evanesced: for, as the tides of the accursed mystic river were flowing full, the flames (which blazed and

But my mighty steeds, mad by nature, plunged bravely in the stream which bubbled and boiled with recent

heat: yet, because of their heavenly breed, they (already mad) succumbed not to the scalding flood, though

they screamed with terror and piety, as did Ares (potent in battle) when (wounded by Diomedes son of

Tydeys) he fell, covering seven acres, and fled (bellowing) to Paieon (the surgeon of the gods) to be healed of

his hurt. But, when we were on the other side of that flaming moat which surrounds the city of the dead,

Hermes assuaged the pangs of my mad horses with a holy Spell which he contrived to remember just then, so

that they became much madder than they ever had been before and went most valiantly onward.

Then, also, that same divine one of gods cried aloud to me, saying: "If thou thyself canst remember any

inchantments, work them well now, O master of crafts: for this locality is very fatal to miserable mortals as a

rule; and already thou hast escaped herefrom alive: but, for a third attempt something extremely exquisite of

Thus he admonished me. But I instantly recited aloud most potent Spells, to wit, The Spell of Sniffing the Air

and Getting Power over the Water in the Netherworld, and The Spell of Not Dying Again in the Netherworld,

"It liveth, and I will live: I will triumph in the air and the water of the netherworld.

"Let the place of hiding things be opened: for I will not be treated with scorn.

And, having thus composed and fortified my will, we continued to rage furiously onward.

Now the gloom of the place was very grey and terrible, insomuch that the mad heads of my horses were

invisible to us standing behind them in the chariot, for a dense fog was enveloping the netherworld. And,

anon, we found our way blocked by a great and monstrous wall which frowned blackly in the shade, wherein

loomed a mountainous barbacan fortified with turrets and pierced by a tremendous gate. But the gate was

guarded by unsleeping Kerberos, the hound of hell spoken of by Pythian Phoibos Apollon, barking at me

with three ugly heads and gnashing the relative mouthfuls of teeth. Whom my grandsire appeased, silencing

But divine Hermes began to warn me, saying that his business ended in the realms of shady Hades, his uncle;

and he gave me to know that, in what more remained to he done, I must trust only in myself: but he bade me

to be very wary regarding the mood in which I should find surly King Hades, biding my time and not

precipitantly asking inopportune or excessive favours. And these were the mandates which he had brought to

me from Zeys Pantokrator and Pampator. But, when he had said these things and embraced me, and when he

had whispered a most pious and secret monition, then, indeed, he kicked off and vanished away; and his swift

But I lifted up my voice, terrifically shouting to the warden of the gate. And a blameless titan peered over the

battlements, and brayed with the formidable degorgement of a trumpet, demanding of me the password.

Whom I answered in the language of the gods, speaking one of the Words which Hermes had left with me,

but I may not write it on account of a religious reason. And instantly the gate unfolded its enormous hinges.

In these circumstances, then, I came thundering in my silver shining chariot invading the city of infernal

NOW I was all alone. And, before me on both sides, there stretched a sadcoloured meadow, apparently

interminable, thickly sown with flowers of pinkish pearlike asphodel. And no sky smiled above my head:

but only an impenetrable darkgrey mist, which hung down also, like the curtains of a tent, at a very little

distance on all sides of me. But the mind in my noble breast warned me to pause, and to ponder, and to

contrive a few new wiles before going further. Wherefore, having abated the madness of my horses, I betook

And it appeared to me very desirable that I should not manifest myself to the denizens of that neighbourhood,

wheresoever they might be concealing themselves, without the full equipage and paraphernalia proper to a

personage of my quality. And I very greatly wished that I had brought at least my two slaves, Neandros and

Thalos, the one on account of his stalwart virtue, the other on account of his luminous innocence, and both

full of grace, that they might serve me if need should arise. And I began to consider whether there was any

magic whereby I might summon them to my side: for I already had done so many wonderful things by

myself, and the heavenly gods had strewn themselves so entirely favourable to me, that I was not at any time

daunted when confronted by what the purely stupid man is wont to cringe to as a sheer impossibility. For the

minds of the prudent, indeed, are flexible. And a master of magic (who is thoroughly in earnest) may achieve

But, while I was pondering these high matters, I saw two young boys, like twinbrothers, coming toward me

across the meadow of asphodel and emerging from the obscurity of the mist. They were wellgrown and in

the prime of their age; and their gait betokened a very divine origin. Both were most sweet and gentle of

aspect: but this one was of dusky hue, crowned with a garland of white poppies, and (in his tender hand) he

bore a dark horn, from which (from time to time) he scattered a fine dust in the air, and an obsequious zephyr

carried it away to fall on the eyes of mortals: but that one was of a candid whiteness colder than hoarfrost,

such as I never have seen on the graingiving earth either in marble or milk or the delicate flesh of the young

in the clear of the moon, or the snow which falls in winter; and his pure candour was crowned with a garland

of pinkish pearllike asphodel, and in his soft hand he bore a torch extinguished. Wherefore, I recognized

them for dusky Sleep the Alltamer, and pale kind Death his brother, the twin sons of Khronos.

And now, indeed, the mind in my lordly breast spoke loudly, telling me what I ought to do. For which cause,

I addressed a simple word to these divine ones; shewing the Sign of Life, engaging their aid by spells

unutterable. But, when I had mentioned my desire of having with me Neandros my squire and Thalos my

footboy, whose lives were bound unto mine, which itself was terminable only at the supernal will of the

god, then, white Death (coldly smiling) turned away, saying that the matter concerned his brother. Wherefore,

I made my petition to caredispersing Sleep, saying the Spell: "O Sleep, king of all blessed gods and of all

men, if ever indeed thou didst lend an ear to mine intreaty, now, too, be persuaded; and I will own gratitude

And the dusky god also was favourable to me: for, having cast a pinch of dust from his horn into the air, it

fell on the eyelids of Neandros and Thalos waiting for me in my hollow ship at Tainaron, so that their limbs

were relaxed, and they submitted themselves to divine Sleep, who brought them straight to me in the meadow

But, when we three had ascended the silvershining chariot, I gave the reins to my squire standing on my

right hand: but my footboy attended me, eagerly clutching the rail behind. Thus, I, with Neandros and

Thalos, swiftly galloped onward through the grey gloom, approaching the palace of shady King Hades.

And, having whizzed through its brazen portal, we drave horrifically into an immeasurable hall. And the

awfully whirring wheels of my chariot, with the silver Love perched upon it, amazed the uncountable

multitudes collected therein, insomuch that whimpering Fear took possession of all, and Rumour went

squealing everywhere, whispering that some hero from out of the sunlight alive was invading the house of

And I pursued my way to where I saw the great black throne set, with the very shady god enthroned thereon,

and Queen Persephone by his side, and a court below him of the arbiters of the dead, Aiakos, Minos,

Rhadamanthos, just, inexorable, most venerable, uttering immutable dooms for mortal men. And, near by, I

saw also greathearted yellowhaired Akhilleys, the greatest hero and faithfullest friend which the world has

ever seen; and my heart in my dear breast leaped when he hailed me passing by, recognising on me his

glittering armour which I had won as a spoil: for, to have a trusty comrade in such a shady place is very good.

But, when I checked my chariot before the throne, then, King Hades (the most righteous of gods) sternly

addressed me, saying: "Tell me thy name, O Stranger greatlydaring, and thy father's name; and say also how

And thus I answered him: "O King of Tartarean realms and dreadful brother of Zeys, my father's name was

Jamesmay the gods grant rest to his gentle soul,and I am Nicholas the Crab, client of the Muses and of

fardarting Phoibos Apollon. But divine Hermes brought me hither, acknowledging me to be his own

grandson, called Odysseys son of Laertes by all articulatelyspeaking men who walk in the sweet sunlight."

But the brow of blameless Hades became blacker than starless night; and he frowned so ferociously that even

his shady eyes were shrouded. And he cried: "So thou art that much contriving Odysseys, who aforetime

camest hither and twice escaped alive. And now thou wouldst perplex me with a wily tale, mixing Was with

Willbe and Is in a medley, and bearing a double name full of deceit. But doubtless that is part of thy evil

purpose: for thy purpose cannot but be evil. Perchance thou hast it in mind to depose me, or even to steal

away with my queen, divine Persephone. But, since thine overweening audacity has driven thee, foolish, to

place thyself in my power a third time, thou shalt not now escape me." And he howled for titans to trammel

Thus he spoke. But, when I saw giants towering like mountains near me, in the gloom, then, instantly, I broke

my necklace of heliotrope stones moistened with the juice of marigolds; and I thrust the two halves of it into

the hands of my two trusty slaves, making the Act of Will for them, whereby they became unseen, even by

Stygian gods, unknowing it. But I gave them a short command. And the stalwart Neandros started my horses,

goading them again to madness in the twinkling of an eye, turning them, so that my slaves and my chariot

went ramping out of the palace of blameless Hades like a flash of white thunder. By which means, both my

slaves evaded the Tyrant of Tartaros. But, being visible and willing, I remained: for, as yet I had not done any

of the wily deeds which I had come to do, and, moreover, there was no retreat for me till I had ravished a

spoil from the king of the shades. Furthermore, I was not unmindful of the very pious and secret monitions

which Hermes had whispered to me at parting, when he said: Undergo to Over come.

And, so, I waited; and gigantic hands were thrust down out of obscurity, which seized me and shook me

violently to and fro over enormous areas: so that giddiness nauseated me, and the eyes in my face refused to

continue seeing, and my strength also rebelled and left me, and the utter darkness of oblivion settled upon me,

BUT when, anon, I had recollected my forces, I was in a pit, dismal, slimy, creeping with long cold worms.

And great chains, also, were hanged to my wrists and waist and ankles. But, far above my head, there was a

little window, very heavily barred; and, through it, there came a dullred glow from the distant River

Pyriphthlegethon. And the shrieks and moans of damned souls in mindgrieving torment elsewhere was the

As for myself, it seemed that I had been stripped of my armour, and (indeed) of all which I had brought with

me from the sunlight; and, now, I was mothernaked, gyved also, and with no gear which would deliver me

from my plight, excepting the knowledge of sacred spells which was stored in my mind, and a large quantity

of natural strength which was stored in my body. But I rejoiced, seeing that I was unhurt, and as able as ever:

because I was aware that I should have the greater fame when I should have passed through this ordeal. For

there is not any greater renown for a man, while he exists, than what he shall have earned naked with his feet

But, first, I gathered up the weight of my fetters, to try to break them; and, when I felt them to be as massive

as the cable of my galley, then I let them drop again, not to waste time: for my noble mind began to devise

insidious wiles. But, when the chains clashed against the slimy floor, I heard a sound of a drawing of bolts,

and a brazen door was opened in my pit near by. And, to me, there entered a very gravely objectionable

For she was a barren virgin of inconceivable antiquity, whose skinny arms were joined to her withered body

by membraneous wings such as are the wings of bats and vampires and pterodactyls and all other flying

dragons; and her slit mouth grinned disgustingly, having loose yellow fangs dangling from the dripping

corners: vipers, also, writhed in the dankness of her sparse hair; and her hands were filled with torches and

scourges. Moreover, what I took to be blood was oozing out of her pustulous eyeballs. And thus she said:

"How now, O wily Odysseys! And art thou yet alive? For we deemed that the titans had shaken the life from

thy white bones. And that, indeed, would have made our task an easy one: for we are not accustomed to

Thus she spoke: but the mind in my lordly breast bade me to treat this blameless Erinnys with affability while

keeping her at arm's length, that I might gain a benefit from her conversation without coming to close

quarters with her. For, when a female of this kind prevails, her audacity is more than one can bear without

blasphemy; and, when she is affrighted or affronted, she is a still greater mischief to her house and city.

Wherefore I said: "Hail, O divine one of goddesses, serpent crowned, for I am ignorant of thy blessed name,

But to me the most righteous of furies responded, saying: "I am nightborn Tisiphone, a scratcher of

earthwalking men after they are dead. But this is the dungeon where Pirithoos lay to be scratched by me

Now there is nothing more terrible than such an impudent female as this. Wherefore, having prepared a wile,

not to enrage her, but to delude her, by seeming to be overcome by piety and terror, then, I let my mouth gape

But she began to be garrulous. But I watched for an opportunity of entangling her in her talk. And thus she

chattered: "Yea, here indeed lay Pirithoos, son of Ixion, during a hundred years. For King Hades would not

give him to sweet Death, so black was his crime. But, every night, we sisters three tormented his body as

though he were dead, using fiery tortures and nailtearings, until the decree came that his shade should

repose in peace, being purged. But thou, also, O muchenduring Odysseys, will lie here, chained, purging thy

presumptuous prepotence: but, not till after thy death, may we deal with thee according to thy doom,

And, having thus enlightened me, the very excessive Fury suddenly left me, with extempore shrieks and a

Thereafter, I forget how some days passed: for a prisoner may not reckon the flight of Time in the region of

Tartaros, excepting by marking the ebb and flow of the fiery tides of Pyriphthlegethon. Moreover, I was

occupied in my mind, reviewing all my store of magic wisdom and contriving many wiles.

And, by chance, one day, I became aware that I was hearing a song; and the sound of it seemed to come from

very far away, sweetly, like the voice of a cicada drunk on dewdrops, which, in the woods, sitting on a tree,

Now, in the house of shady Hades (most righteous of gods), this is the condition of mortals when they are

dead. For their nerves have no longer flesh and bones: but the strong force of burning fire subdues them,

when first the mind leaves the white bones; and the soul, gibbeting like a dream, flits and flutters away.

Wherefore, the souls of the dead cannot sing, nor do they attempt it, being occupied in shrieking with agony

and fear. For which cause, I was vastly amazed to hear so very sweet a song, so grave, so quiet in tone; and,

having summoned all my strength, despite the weighty manacles which trammelled me, I leaped up to the

high barred window which looked out into the gloom. But I saw little more than that my dungeon was a pit in

a rocky height: for it happened to be the hour of slack tide, when the flames of Pyriphthlegethon die down for

And the wonderful song came more clearly from below, thrilling the darkness of black night.

But, when, anon, the voice was silent, I wedged myself (as best I could) into the narrow alcove of the

window, waiting for the ebb of the tide, when I might see more plainly in the light of the increscent flames.

And, when the flickering gleam of the fires leaped up, I saw that my pit was a cell in a watchtower perched

high above the walls of the house of blameless Hades. But there was a great gulph fixed below, and bleak

And, while I gazed, the lilylike voice began again to ring, maidenlike, very solemn, and of entrancing

sweetness. But I, listening, heard it; and the heart in my dear breast thrilled strangely: for it seemed as though

Memory (that divine one of goddesses) was opening yet once more certain chambers in my mind, unknown,

or unremembered; and I was aware of treasures stored therein, whose very existence I had forgotten. But the

simple song went sadly on, as though the singer sat in patience waiting, singing only just to pass the time, but

always with hope, very faint indeed but neverfailing, everenduring, in the depth of her maiden breast. And

And the strange sweet dancing rhythm made my pulses bound; and my breath came quickly in accord. For it

was like a sudden blazing thunderbolt illuminating the recesses of my mind; and I remembered the object of

my quest, to wit, Golden Helen, who, when I was not much more than a boy, had watched me faring girded

high through the ford of Eyrotas near windy Lakedaimon Golden Helen, whom her starcrowned brothers

(Kastor the tamer of horses and Polydeykes the pugilist) had rescued from the blameless hero Theseys

carrying her away when she was a tender girl,Golden Helen, whom King Tyndareys had given in

socalled marriage to loudshouting impotent old sandyhaired Menelaos, blameless, and

blubberlipped,Golden Helen, whom womanmad Paris had reft from her farcical husband,Golden

Helen, who had come again to me in the land of Khem, long ages since, pure as snow or fire, and always

mine alone,Golden Helen, whom black Fate had reft from me, when I died that time by the sacred river of

Egypt, being wounded to death by blameless Kirke's son and mine, unknowing Telegonos.

But now, indeed, I knew of a truth that Golden Helen was that very Treasure of Hades which I had come to

win: for, by favour of Queen Persephone, she was safe in the netherworld, and only there, for in the

netherworld there are no men capable of worrying a lady, but merely shades of men, who are quite negligible;

and, there, she (being immortal) could live faithful to me and not altogether without certain amenities.

And she made answer, halfamazed and halfafraid, saying: "Who calleth me with the voice of one long

To whom I replied: "I am Odysseys, grandson of Hermes, victor over all sorts of people; and I am come here

Thus I spoke. But the golden goddess, filled with joy, said: "O Odysseys, I have waited long. But now where

To whom I answered, saying: "I am imprisoned by shady Hades in a pit in one of his towers. But canst thou

She said: "I see thee not, O muchenduring Odysseys. But thou shalt soon escape and come to me: for,

though it is not safe for me to go alone among the gods (married and unmarried) of lofty Olympos to plead

for thee, and, though shady Hades doth regard me with disfavour, yet my twinbrothers (who are dead

today in the netherworld where I can speak firmly to them) will be all alive tomorrow in the

neighbourhood of the immortals, such being their destiny. And they shall demand graces from my lordly sire

Thus she spoke; and, incontinent, sped away about my business. But I, being refilled with hopeful ideas, felt

my great strength increasing every moment. Wherefore, with loud laughter, I came down from the hollow

window, beginning to break my bonds. Now, had I been on earth or sea, I should have used certain magic

recipes known to me, whereby the bitter iron would have crumpled up in sheer bewilderment: but I wished it

to be said of me that I had won the Treasure of Hades with my naked strength as far as possible, if (indeed) it

should be permitted to me by the gods inhabiting olympian palaces. Wherefore, I set my sinews to work: for

youth was hotter than ever in my veins and my life was raging within me. And, having tasted the name of the

golden goddess desired of all men, I made that my only spell; and then indeed I burst great fetters with my

little fingers. And, with the same spell (and lusty loinheavings), I tore at the staple inset in a flagstone,

dragging it from its socket. And, with the same spell (and a mighty swelling of my hardened body), I

wrenched asunder the last hoop of iron; and stood free among my splendidly shattered shackles.

Thus having delivered myself from bonds, I waited as patiently as might be. But none came near me; and,

indeed, the mind in my noble breast would have bidden me to attempt the slaughter of anyone, even a

blameless titan, who should have approached me, not openly coming as a friend. And my patience was tried

But, on the third day, I heard someone buffetting the bars of my window; and a friendly voice uttered my

great name. And, when I answered, a young and very godly face, crowned on the brow with a star, looked in

upon me through the grating. And the halfimmortal hero said: "Our sister, fair Helen, hath sent us to thee, O

Odysseys, sacker of cities; and here am I, Polydeykes: but brother Kastor keeps watch below, for Father Zeys

wishes to see what we can do unaided. Wherefore, we two are come to rescue thee: but Queen Persephone

Thus he spoke: and indeed it was Polydeykes the pugilist, son of Zeys the Swan, who was taking my part.

But, first, he tore at the bars of the window: but when, indeed, he found them firmly fixed, then he laughed,

warning me away; and, with a boxer's blow straight from the shoulder, he drove the massive irons inward, so

that they stretched out, becoming thin as threads with sheer amazement, until they snapped in twain in every

direction and ceased from being bars. But I instantly leaped to the window, crouching on the sill, till

starcrowned Kastor ascended. And, I having squeezed myself through the narrow aperture, the Great Twins

bore me up, supporting me on both sides, till we touched the solid earth once more.

BUT, upon the instant when we stood in open country at the base of the rock, there came a fearful whirring of

the wings of blameless Harpies, beating down upon us, raucously screeching, calling titans and furies to their

aid. But the Dioskoyroi laughed these bestial birds to scorn, and Polydeykes dashed his ironstudded

boxingglove into their ugly faces, whereat the illbreathing wardens of the damned became melancholy,

But we went on through the murk, entering a secret chamber in the house of Hades, where were food and

drink, corncakes the strength of men, with cheeses and the fat haunches of pigs, and honeyhearted wine.

Here, also, by the arts of Queen Persephone, I found all my gear, and my silvershining armour piled upon a

bed, and baths of boiling water for washing. And having cleaned away my abounding sweat and slime, I

anointed myself, coming out of the bath like to the immortals in person, and was visited by the shades of

most accomplished barbers. But, when I sat down to a repast (not because of hunger, for, in that life I was not

afflicted with the craving belly, pernicious, which brings so many evils to mortal men, but merely for the

pleasure of eating and drinking with friends), then, indeed, godlike Kastor and Polydeykes served me as

squires for a religious reason, girding me again with my silvershining armour glittering with rockcrystals

and blue moonstones, which I won from Aias son of Telamon, in a footrace, after lordly Akhilleys had left

Which matters having been concluded, the Great Twins conducted me to the presence of welldisposed

Queen Persephone, who addressed to me unwinged words, saying: "O muchenduring grandson of Hermes,

always wily and ready at need, my cousin Golden Helen hath persuaded me on thy behalf; and I will protect

thee as far as may be from my shady husband's wrath. For King Hades bath a bitter spirit, and is fain to do

thee wrong, by reason that thou already hast evaded him twice, and, also, that thou (by thy wiles and a woolly

sheep) didst cause to suffer much in mind and to perish most miserably his sweet friend the Kyklops

Polyphemos. Nevertheless I will beseech the king to let thee go in peace, for the sake of avoiding fresh wiles

Then came longrobed Helen, the divine one of goddesses; and I read in her amber eyes that which told me

(even more than her song had told me) that she was mine now, even as she had been willing to be mine in

Egypt long before. Glowed then the heart in my dear breast with love and joy; and my very form swelled

hugely with pride of conquest: for, not to everyone of earthtrampling men is it given to win the love of a

And so we passed into the judgmenthall of Hades, most righteous of gods brooding on his shady throne: that

that which had to be done might be welldone with the least possible delay. And, before the king, the judges

were giving dooms to the unnumbered dead, as usual. But Queen Persephone stood before him; and she held

my hand, and said: "O king and lord of shades, it pleaseth me that King Odysseys should retire forthwith

from these dismal realms, with his life, and with all else which belongeth to him."

But, at sight of me, surly Hades bounced and had a borbyrygm; and he quickly answered her, saying: "Such,

O daughter of Demeter, is by no means my intent: but now I will toss him into Tartaros, there to lie for ever,

on account of his presumption in coming hither after having twice escaped me, and also on account of the

woes which his prepotence wrought wilily upon my sweet friend, the giver of cherished gifts, even the

But the holy queen persisted, saying: "Odysseys shall not lie for ever in Tartaros: for my cousin, Golden

Helen, hath persuaded me for his sake. Yet, seeing that he cannot go hence without thy leave, I say let him

But the shady king of terrors instantly assented, saying: "So mote it be. And irrevocable doom shall come

But the Stygian queen smiled in scorn, mocking a king so foolish as to think that a woman, a daughter of

Great Zeys, could not find some crafty wile for evading an adverse chance if necessary.

And the king cried again, saying: "Who, of all the heroes here, will fight against Odysseys, grandson of

And straightway answered him Attik Theseys the conqueror of the Kretan Minotayr, and loud shouting

impotent old sandy haired King Menelaos, and womanmad Paris son of Dardanian Priam, saying: "That

will we do, O dread lord: for, of old, we sought the love of longrobed Helen, to have her after the manner of

men and women. But she rejected us, favouring Odysseys with her amber eyes, from her girlhood to this day.

Wherefore, we are ready to fight against him on thy behalf, O Dominator of the netherworld."

And these three made their way to the front of the throne. Now Theseys was a stalwart hero and a very

worthy champion: moreover, his very nose had gone black with jealous hatred. But sandyhaired Menelaos

was merely an aged screecher and whimperer, bleareyed, rheumynosed, scraggy, knotty as to the joints,

and unfit to be put to tussle even with a footboy's slut out of the kitchens. And Phrygian Paris, once the

comely shepherd of Ida, was a flaccid obese weakling, exhausted by excess, against whom I should have

been ashamed to lift a finger. So I said. But, from afar, there came a great bellowing from Salaminian Aias

son of King Telamon, very mad with rage, saying that he would fight on the part of King Menelaos, having

also a private grievance to avenge, in that I had won from him (on the plain of windy Ilion) the armour of

glorious Akhilleys. And greathearted Hektor, son of King Priam, took up the cause of his wasted brother

Paris, claiming the right of fighting against me because of the ruin which I worked on his house and city by

But shady Hades sniggered, saying: "Not one of these three champions, who hold my honour so dear, shall be

disappointed. Wherefore, fight each of you in turn; and let King Theseys fight first. And, if so be that no

Odysseys is left in life to fight loudbellowing Aias and great Hektor in turn, then, indeed, the blame will not

But Queen Persephone cried: "Now would it be foul shame to pit a single man, even though he be King

Odysseys whom they call Peer of Zeys in Counsel, against three heroes so justly famous in battle, princes

renowned throughout all time. Wherefore I, the queen, call for two heroes to fight side by side with King

And, almost before the goddess had ceased from speaking, and, while King Hades was yet frowning in

perplexity, Argive Diomedes the wellthewed son of King Tydeys cried: "I will fight cheerfully for the

honour of Queen Persephone, and for my ancient friendship with King Odysseys, with whom, by night, I

attacked the hardy Thrakians who wear their red hair bunched on the crown of their heads."

Then, indeed, the mind in my breast rejoiced: for I knew that, with my old comrade Diomedes (a mighty man

of war) by my side, many very virtuous and proper deeds would be done against the hostile champions. But,

while I wondered who would be my other swordfellow and shieldfriend, the voice of great hearted

implacable Akhilleys declared that his godforged armour might in no wise go into battle, he being present,

unless he himself fought by its wearer's side. But I knew then that I should not tarry long among the ghosts.

King Hades preened himself at the prospect of bloody war; and, seeing three sons of kings ready to contend

with three sons of kings, he made no more ado, but began to embody the shades of these five heroes,

furnishing them with bodies and limbs and arms and armour such as they had used in their very prime, when

Now it is not to be thought that I, when I saw such notable magic being done before my eyes, could (or

would) refrain from offering also a specimen of my own proficiency. But I determined at once to let King

Hades see how great a mage he had been minded to treat thus bitterly, and (at the same time) to comfort my

friends and to secure respectful opinions from the inhabitants of the netherworld there present in innumerable

Wherefore, seeing the ghosts of those five heroes becoming clothed with live flesh and about to be armed by

their proper squires, I nobly refused the service of the Great Twins, star crowned, when they would have

prepared me for the fray. And the eyes of all, from highest to lowest instantly became fixed upon me. But I

stood still, summoning certain forces within me, and silently saying the Spell called The Summons which

And, forthwith, Thalos my footboy (whose life was bound to mine) came from the misty meadows of

asphodel, where he and Neandros and my silver chariot were waiting for me. Fearlessly he came, entering the

judgmenthall of Hades, thinking of naught but his duty to his lord. And it was very strange to see a mere

boy, mortal, but alive and very healthy, wearing his usual sandals and short mantle, running toward me

through so vast a throng of naked shades. But the dead all made way for him, being beaten back and most

dreadfully worried: for he was (as I was) immune against death by reason of my magic and also by reason of

the grace of his own luminous innocence. And, having come to me, he went over the clasps of my armour in

the usual manner, saying nothing. But, when he had done his service, he went (at my command) and

And forthwith there came in Delphic Phoibos Apollon as Knight of the Sun, and Arkadian Hermes as Knight

of East and West and North and South, and lordly Ares as Knight of Kadosh, and Lemnian Hephaistos as

Knight of the Brazen Serpent, and Theban Herakles (who, they say, changed wives with Zeys) as Knight of

the Sword of the East, all gloriously triumphant, and, also, beardless Dionysos as Noahite Patriarch, and pale

Death and dusky Sleep as Princes of Mercy, and immortal Eros as Prince of the Royal Secret, each one giving

me the greeting of his own degree. But to them I responded as Master. They seated themselves on the bench

with the judges Aiakos, Minos, and Rhadamanthos. And I remember how that the shade of accursed

Thersites, humptybacked, blameless, took a mindgrieving toss from lordly Ares, having presumed (as his

wont was) to thrust himself unbidden into the pews of his betters. And inextinguishable laughter arose among

the shades, when they saw the staggering unhappiness of that chatterbox Thersites.

But, when all was ready, I took my place, having kissed the still brow of Golden Helen. But the touch of the

goddess, though her mien was strange and unresponsive, put strength into my shoulders and knees, and

placed in my breast the boldness of a fly, which persists in biting, although often driven away by a mortal

man whose blood is its most delicate sweetmeat. For I burned with an insatiable desire for slaying, nor to

surcease therefrom till all were gone who stood between me and Golden Helen. For I was in face of her, for

Thus, indeed, were the champions placed: at my side, I had greathearted Akhilleys on my left, and

wellthawed Diomedes on the right: but at the other side, renowned Theseys faced me, and keen Hektor

faced Akhilleys, and sacrilegious Aias faced Diomedes. And we were to fight with spears and swords. But

my wily revolver was ready to my hand; and longrobed Helen held my black bow, which sang of war and

Theseys thrust his spear straight at my best eyelid, terribly shouting: but I raised my shining shield like a

flash of white thunder, taking his point full on the godmade boss of it. And the heavenly silver rang true as a

bell. But I, stooping, drove up with my own spear, which he (also) took on his shield. But, so mightily had I

thrust it, that the head stuck fast in the metal: nor could I tear it again from the grip of his shield. He, then,

noisily swang his targe aside, snatching away my weapon. But I dashed in, battering him with my own shield,

till he was beaten to his knee. And, while he recollected himself, I drew my sword and lopped off his

spearhead, pressing hard with my shield against his, and hewing at his head. But he, cunning, took my

strokes on his wellcrested helmet, while he fumbled for his sword. Nevertheless, his head must have

hummed, for sparks fell thickly on all sides from every blow, as they fall from a redhot horseshoe smitten

upon an anvil in a winter's night. And, when once more we were equally armed, we fell to fighting very

But, suddenly, I heard a great sob on my right hand. For wellthawed Diomedes crashed to the ground; and

all the netherworld shook at his fall, as a citadel shakes when thumped by a batteringram. And, at the same

time Aias son of Telamon leaped upon me, masked in blood, and bellowing like a hamstrung bull.

Now, hitherto, notwithstanding the gravity of our combat, neither I nor Theseys had let blood. But, when I

saw scarlet Aias coming ravening upon me, and, when I sniffed the delicious odour of a hero's blood, then,

indeed, I accomplished a certain wile. For I feinted downward, to draw the sword of Aias; and, lightening my

guard before his eye (halfdimmed with streaming gore) could follow, I lunged upward, plunging my blade

like an onion into the bellowing mouth of him, where a wound is particularly painful to a miserable mortal;

and awfully my hilt thudded on the bones behind his face, passing right through his head under the brain and

bruising the white bones at the back. And his teeth were shivered to splinters; and his two eyes gushed with

gore, which he (gaping) made violently to spout also with a bubbling noise from his mouth and from both his

ears and nostrils, drenching me with five purple fountains. But his knees relaxed; and he sat down suddenly

backward, stretching out his two hands; and Death enveloped him in a pale cloud. In this manner, I lost my

sword as well as my spear, being too much occupied to retrieve it from the badlywrecked face of Aias.

And now one would have said that I was at the mercy of my own enemy: for Theseys all the time did not

omit to hack at my head. But I caught his strokes on my shield till it was split in twain, and then upon my

crested helmet studded with adamantine crystals and blue moonstones; and his blows were like the blows of a

poleaxe wielded by a blooming butcher, or of a sledgehammer wielded by a lusty smith. But, because I was

unarmed and liable to reel giddily under the hero's onslaught, my noble mind contrived a new wile. And,

diving upward under his shield (lest he should wound me in the back), I caught him round the ribs with my

long arms, and began to crumple him up. He, indeed, having dropped his shield, smote once on my back: but

it was only a halfcut, for my shoulder filled the sweet pit of his swordarm, preventing him from giving

either force or weight unto his effort. Meanwhile, I splintered his crackling ribs one by one, pinching him as

ferociously as possible, and wrenching him hither and thither, with a heart full of pure joy, when I felt so

renowned a hero as Theseys becoming like a broken basket of entrails in my arms. He, indeed, tried to stab

me with his bitter steel, in the intervals when he was neither screeching nor gasping for breath with much

hiccoughing. And, anon, having heaved him high above my head, (for he tired me), then I dashed him to the

ground, snapping his big backbone with a noise like the quick tearing of linen. But he lapsed limply into a

shapeless bundle of broken man; and his last breath shot out with a wet squeak, moistly whistling; and

But I sidled away from the carcase, looking toward my left hand, where the two great heroes and masters of

perfect swordsmanship were fighting valiantly. And cresttossing Hektor feigned to slip, half exposing his

head: but implacable Akhilleys, for the nonce unwary, brandished his blade for a last terrific blow which

should end the battle. But him Hektor overcame, eluding the shield which swang away to the left, and

thrusting his own sword through the taslets of the breastplate deep into the beautiful groin. Nevertheless, the

end was not yet. For fierce Akhilleys, though wounded to death, finished the stroke which he had begun. And

his sword came down irresistibly on Hektor's crested helm; and the horsehair floated away on this side and

on that; and the whole casque fell in two halves here and there, like the split shells of a walnut; and the head

within, being divided in twain right down to the roots of the throat, flapped upon the shoulders like a halved

pomegranate on a sliced stem. In this manner, fell together the two greatest warriors and the two most

But all voices were hushed at the splendour of the sight, grieving that the five famous sons of kings should so

soon have ceased from sweet life, again becoming shades. And I, also, stood in silence: for I was still rather

dizzy. But, all at once, shady Hades shouted from his throne: "This muchcontriving Odysseys again bath

And, on the word, the enormous monsters lumbered in my direction. But all the shades began to gibber like

bats, moaning with fear; and the shade of greathearted Akhilleys became paler with horror, because of King

Hades' treachery. But Thalos, my footboy, lithely leaped from crouching at the feet of Golden Helen; and,

having snatched my black bow from her (but she gave it willingly), he thrust it into my hand, standing alertly

close behind me with my quiver, ready to feed me with arrows. And, in an instant, I bent the great bow to the

string, while it sang shrilly with joy, loosing the wellfeathered shafts which swiftly hissed down the long

hall; and they bit the eyeballs of the titans so that they yelped like whipped whelps in their displeasure, falling

But, as I sped the winged deaths on their way, I heard a terrible cry from the queen. But I, without turning

round to her, was suddenly aware that I was seeing on all sides, both before and behind: for the eyes in my

face, fearfully rolling, gazed in front; and, when I drew the string of the bentback bow to my ear with my

right hand, the two eyechalcedonyxes in the magic ring which Hermes, my grandsire, had placed on my

third finger looked out over my shoulder in the rear, warning me of danger from that quarter. And I saw

shady King Hades, the most righteous of gods, about to dash out my brain with the gigantic key which fits the

But, leaping aside, I evaded the blameless coward's blow: but, in escaping from the god, I became far away

from Thalos who bore my arrows; and my bow shrieked because I could not use it. Once more, King Hades

struck at me; and, once more mightily leaping, I eluded the danger. Moreover, I saw, from the bewildered

gestures of the shades, that they understood neither what was going on nor the reason of my marvellous

agility. And, then, I perceived that the shady one had donned his cyclopean helmet of invisibility, whereby

none but a god's eyes could see him. But I, being hard pressed, determined to use magic of another kind, such

as I had found very efficacious against shady hustlers and bullies when I was a subject of Victory queen of

the stalwart stately Anglicans. And, first, I praised rustic Pan and wingfooted Hermes, with wildly joyful

acclamations: the one for his gift in the touch of fennel on the seashore by Tainaron, whereby I was able to

see with the eyes of a god as well as with the eyes of a man, and the other (my grandsire) for his gift of two

eyes more than the number allotted to olympians, to say nothing of miserable mortals: for, without these

extraordinary faculties, shady Hades would certainly have gotten me again, and for good, and I should have

Wherefore, I plucked out my revolver, as blameless Hades came upon me. He, indeed, had the air of being

dreadfully worried, believing himself to be invisible, and yet finding that I was able to dodge him quite

successfully. And, having pressed the wellmade spring of my weapon with my palm, I pulled the beautiful

trigger six times, afflicting the Shady One with a dumdum in each nostril and two in the belly and one in each

knee. But he, being a god, was unable to die, even though he had lost his ugly face: but all the same, he was

extremely capable of feeling pain; and dreadful pain he felt. Now, as everyone knows, when lordly Ares was

wounded by wellthewed Diomedes at the siege of windy Ilion, he hullabalooed (as it is chanted in the

canticle) like an army of ten thousand men all maddrunk with beer. But, King Hades being of the elder

generation of the gods, and (therefore) of far vaster bulk than his lusty nephew, the bellowing of nineteen

such armies would have been (to the outpouring of his godly griefs and pains) but as the wheezy puling of an

infant to the thunder of immeasurable Ocean on a rockbound coast. For, indeed, the very firmament of the

netherworld was riven and cleft asunder by the thuds of his highstepped capers and contortions, and the

But I, looking upward through the grateful fissure, saw clear heaven again, and the serenelysailing Moon,

and the glittering constellation of the Crab, and all the holy stars which kindly gaze upon earthtrampling

THEN, the gods, divine ones inhabiting olympian palaces, whom I had summoned to see how a mastermage

undergoes that he may overcome, intervened to protect me from further annoyance. For unspeakable

For the shades of wellborn Theseys and of sandyhaired old Menelaos and of womanmad Paris were

gibbering with rage, seeing that I was free to depart with Golden Helen, the Treasure of Hades, as my spoil.

And they shook their angry fingers at me, like fringes in a wind, being quite impotent: but Paris, unable to

contain what there was of himself (so abounding was his ire), burst, over and over again, like a bad bubble in

But, as I walked with the blessed gods, having Helen the Treasure of Hades beside me, we went to and fro,

walking delicately over the monstrous wrigglings of titans, victims of my bow, as men pick their way among

earthquakes, lightly leaping hither and thither. But the mind in my breast was contriving new wiles.

Then said Delphic Phoibos Apollon, the Knight of the Sun: "We have tarried long enough in the kingdom of

twilight; and I yearn to go back to blazing noon. Return with us, O Master of Wisdom; and be sure of

Then said Arkadian Hermes Psykhopompos, the Knight of East and West and North and South: "Never yet

have I led articulatelyspeaking men out of this place: but rather my business is to bring them hither when

they are dead. But very gladly will I bear thee and thine away with swiftwinged feet, O Master my child.

Then said Lemnian Hephaistos, the Knight of the Brazen Serpent: "There be many dints and notches in thy

silvershining armour, and many of thy lovely rockcrystals and blue moonstones have been shattered in

battle, and what shall we say of thy nodding crest of the prides of nine white peacocks. But, indeed, my

fingers itch to have thee in my smithy where I may restore thee. Return, therefore, with us, O Master of

But white Death and black Sleep, being young, stood modestly aside: for the general rule is that the last may

not come to man without an invitation, and that the first may come only at a particular time. And that time for

me had not even been discussed by the authorities. For which cause, the pale god moved away, going about

more pressing business: but the dark one lingered, lifting his horn of dust to tempt me. But, though I was not

unwilling to receive the kindly gift of Sleep, the mind in my noble breast reminded me that many things still

remained for me to do. Wherefore I addressed unwinged words to the blessed gods, saying: "Gladly, O divine

ones, will I escape from this nasty neighbourhood, and gladly will I visit the height of Olympos, bringing

Thus I spoke, as we came forth from the hall into the misty meadows of Asphodel. But, behind us in the

House of Hades, we left incalculable pudder and turmoil. For, beside the roars of the wounded, the

innumerable shades of all the dead since Cain slew Abel, being worried with pique and jealousy, were

pouring themselves out helterskelter, snuffling in clusters, whimpering and maudling and mumbling,

waving themselves all over the place like streamers of seaweed, all in a most embarrassing manner. And it

seemed as though my passage would be impeded by them, as by inextricable mazes of cobwebs.

Wherefore, I (to make an end) summoned Thalos, nimbly loaded with my gear by him collected and skipping

after me; and of him I inquired whereabouts might be my silver chariot. Who answered me, saying that my

squire Neandros was not ceasing from driving about the asphodeline meadows, being unseen, and keeping

alert for my call: yet he knew not precisely where the chariot might be at the moment. And he mentioned his

opinion that Neandros would be glad of a meal, not because he was dying of hunger as another youth would

have died, famished (for his life was bound to my life, so that he lived while I lived), but just because it was

the custom of mortals to eat at intervals. And inextinguishable laughter arose among the immortal gods when

Then, the Great Twins, impatient of delay, moved to the other side of their golden sister, as though to protect

her from the mobs of gibbering shades: but I, on my part, uttered the Spell called The Call Which Must Be

Answered; and, instantly, Neandros drove my silvershining chariot toward us out of the imperscrutable

mist. But the gods, when they saw that I was furnished with so suitable a vehicle with its equipage of four

mad stallions of the divine breed of Laomedon, departed, flying up earthward through the riven roof of the

netherworld, and thence onward to the height of Olympos. Thus the gods themselves were my heralds.

But I placed Golden Helen (divine one of the goddesses) beside Neandros in the chariot; and, when Thalos

had mounted in the rear placing his beautiful bundle on the silver floor, I, also, was about to ascend to my

place: but a very fearful occurrence delayed me. For the shade of womanmad Paris, partly embodied again,

darted toward us out of the mist; and his sufficiently solid hand had been armed by shady Hades with the

sword of dead Hektor his brother. Now had I been blameless Hades in these circumstances, I would have

embodied the shade of Hektor and employed hint as my assassin rather than the feeble and fatuous Paris: but

Hades was not at all wily. And the womanmad one ran, gibbering frightfully, leering like a lunatic who after

long seeking has found; and he, squealing (for his throat was not quite firmly finished), slashed as he passed

with his blade at my harness, so that the snowwhite leathern thongs were divided, and the reins fell severed

from the hands of my charioteer. But the horses went madder, bounding upward; and careered (tracefree) to

their native pastures in the rolling heavens, leaving us halfblinded by their hoofsparks and (so to speak)

fixed immoveably below. And, every moment, the mobs of malignant ghosts surrounding us became more

But I, having won the Crown of All Wisdom (which is Love), and the Treasure of Hades (which is Golden

Helen), and being unwilling to forego the enjoyment of my beautiful spoils, and remembering the word

which Hermes had said by my altar on black Tanairon, lifted up my voice very loudly indeed, uttering the

most mighty but two of all spells. And thus I said: "Hear, O oldest and youngest of all the blessed gods, sweet

one, sly one, dire one, winged one, blind one, archarcher, lord of unquenchable flame, thou who art

somewhere in the rich state of heaven or on the graingiving earth, for thou everywhere canst see and hear a

And, instantly, through the gigantic fissure yawning overhead, came the sound of merry childish laughter.

And Divine Eros dived out of the darkness like a flash of ruddy lightning, folding his white wings to stand

before us, lifting the bandage from his sparkling eyes to warm us with their radiance. And we, who had been

shivering with ghostly cold and bound to the soil of hell a moment before, felt all our limbs athrill with life

and joy and in our hearts a splendour at the coming of the bird of the gods. For he, indeed, was a very large

and lovely boy, slim, and rounded, and so ruddy that his form had scarce been known within a fiery furnace

of clear flame: but, when we saw the freedom with which he flung abroad his sprightly limbs, and his quick

incessant movements, it was clear that he could have no rival in energy or strength. And, while we gazed, he

was darting here and there, peering into my silver chariot's secret parts, having pulled out the pole and cast it

away for inquisitive ghosts to sniff at and mumble. And even I stood amazed: for, notwithstanding my magic,

I had not suspected that such marvels could be as those which Love laid bare. For, here, he pressed certain

beautiful knops carven on the panels; and, forthwith, lids opened in the silver floor, whereunto he wept

copious torrents of wet tears, because of foolish men; and, having closed the lids, he shewed us his ruddy

young face wreathed with laughter. And, there, he ran his fingers over the bosses of other silver pallets inlaid

with crabs and moons in motherofpearl; and other lids opened; and a fragrance as of smooth oil was

wafted in the air. But all this, and very much more, was done in a moment of time.

And Love urgently charged us to mount to our places: but he was sprawling on his supple back, underneath,

between the well carved wheels, and belching streams of heavenly fire from his rosered lips. But we four

mounted, and clung to the rail: for the mighty chariot was beginning to hum and pulsate like a creature

having life, so that (though I was not afraid, but rather exultant with joy unspeakable), I made the Sign of

Safety from height to depth and from here to there, which is the test and the touchstone and the palladium of

But the immortal god arose, sweeping the air once with his great white wings; and he swooped upward,

diving into the very image of himself, larger than life, blindfolded, naked, most alluringly proportioned,

which stood poised on the front of the rail, winged, and ready to fly. And the whiteness and ruddiness of Eros

totally disappeared in the silver image of him, nor was the silver any longer hard and still, like silver, but

smooth and firm and supple as young flesh, being alive in very fact and altogether godlike in potency.

And the silver Love hooted aloud in mockery of the gibbeting shades; and he swept back the air with his

winged arms, as a strong swimmer slipping through the wavelets of the innumerable laughter of the ocean,

setting all mortal means at naught, needing neither oar nor sail saving his wings, winnowing the winds with

those eternal plumes. And the wheels of the chariot whirred astonishingly with the swiftness of our flight

toward the fissure in the firmament of hell. But I, looking downward at the fearful ghosts, saw Kastor and

Polydeykes catching treacherous Paris by hair and heels and slinging him into fiery Pyriphthlegethon.

Awfully scorched was what there was of him when he scrambled out; and the Great Twins left him licking

his burns on the bank: but they went back to the house of Hades, to serve the rest of that day in the

But the living silver Love bore us upward out of darkness. But I looked upon the walls of the vast chasm as

we passed them by; and I saw the depths of rich earth's bosom all laid bare. Here were pockets full of white

gold or korinthic bronze which is platinum and of gold and of silver and of copper, and of iron, and of

gleaming tin. There, were mounds of marble and porphyry and granite. Here, were rivers of chalcedonyx and

jasper, and streams of rosequartz and violet amethyst and rockcrystal and bluemoonstone and mysterious

greenandpurple alexandrolith. There, were caverns full of buried and forgotten treasures. And, scattered

everywhere, like the stars upon the floor of heaven, were very precious stones, in clots, or alone in glittering

glory. But, above all these, we passed the pregnant soil of earth the cupboard of mortals, pierced in every

I turned my gaze to my dear companions. The stalwart Neandros clung to the rail at the back; and his bold

eyes stirred not from the god who had deposed him from his place as charioteer, for he was meditating an

unmentioned and unthoughtof work, which I will narrate at a suitable time. Thalos crouched on his hams on

the floor, clinging with one arm to the straight legs of Neandros, but his other arm steadied the bundle of my

gear. And, by my side, stood long robed Helen, the divine one of goddesses. She was as purely white as the

kernel of a nut; and her hair floated behind like a web of woven sunbeams. One gleaming arm round me, and

the other on the rail near the feet of the silver Love, held her still. Her head was quiet and happy on my

breast. Silent were her lips of coral. Eloquent beyond mortal words were her amber eyes: wherein gazing at

my ease, I read of her pride, her meekness, her power, her weakness, her fidelity, her faith, her wisdom, her

generosity, her pure unsullied soul, her worship, and her love. What she read in mine, I also know; and, that

We were ascending from twilight to daylight. Not for nothing had those other divine ones gone before,

announcing our coming: for the whole world was set agog to behold us. Heavenly breezes rustled down the

shaft to refresh us with their clean breath. Little rills of sparkling water trickled over the cleft earth's lips in

haste to greet us. And the forests bowed their green heads, like a canopy, above us flashing through the reft

In this pomp, I came triumphantly a third time out of the netherworld, with the Treasure of Hades and the

BUT, when we had come to the beautiful plains of earth, there were spread before our feet (for us to walk

upon) pleasaunces of emerald grass studded with jewels of daisies and bluebells and daffodils and buttercups

and cyclamen, with swathes of poppies, and with splashes of pure gold crocus dropped straight down from

the radiant sun. Then, indeed, I (as a mortal man) found a fit time when I might give way to human weakness:

for a man who does godlike deeds must pay a price. And, because my head swam with weariness, and

because every part of me ached from my sunned skin to my white bones, and because every sense of me was

sickened by the slime and corrupt blood of hellish menials wherewith I was crusted from crest to sandals,

then, I longed to be visited by barbers and clean slaves, and, also, I had a keen remembrance of the willing

and alluring look which the young god with the horn of eyeclosing dust had shot at me by shady Hades' hall,

seeming to ask for an invitation. But I thought on these things particularly, as (with Golden Helen) I paced a

And Golden Helen perceived how it was with me: for two (who love) are one. Beside, being a woman, she

needed but a single service from me, to wit, that I should never leave untold the nevertobeoutworn story

of my love for her; and that (to me) was no toil, but a pleasure perennial. And, for the rest, she (the one

women of women and the divine one of goddesses) had no other joy than that of caring for her lover.

Wherefore, she sat down on a thymy bank in the shade of a maybush: but I reclined by her side. Thus, we

rested, during a little while, watching the slaves beginning to clear my chariot and my gear: for a cheerful

brook ran by the place, sparing enough water for their work, but not enough for the cleansing of a man as

well. But I intended, after resting, to seek a site apart, for my own embellishment. And, while these things

were being done, a remarkable portent and a signal favour of a god were manifested, which I will at once

For, when we emerged from the fissure in the earth whereby we evacuated the abysm, it clappedto behind

us, just as did that other gulph which formerly yawned for showy Curtius in the forum of Rome. And the

living silver Love, my charioteer, folded his wings, while we paused to breath the upper air. But when we sat

down to rest upon the thymy bank, his clear young voice, with a shout of laughter, called us by name. But we,

starting, looked toward the sound; and the silver Love, poised all alive on the front of the chariot, bade us to

come near and observe him closely. Thus we did; and the large volatile boy turned on his hips, spreading his

quivering wings to balance himself; and he shewed us (and we perceived it) that he was girded about the reins

with a fine silver chain, the two taslets whereof dangled down behind him as far as the rail of the chariot. And

thus he chirruped: "Lady of Love, and Lord of the Lady of Love, give me leave to make other lovers happy in

the intervals. But call me to serve you when you will, pulling the chain this way or that, having enslaved me

And, with the word, the god returned to his position, poising himself as before with widespread wings. But

he came (a large boy's form of flesh, ruddy and white as roses, slender and splendidly rounded), out of the

silver leaving his image behind him. And, leaping free with farflung limbs and stronglywaving arms, he

But my head began to whirl faster and faster. I saw Neandros and Thalos arising after they had adored the

blooming god, and I felt that Golden Helen was conducting me again to the thymy bank. And, coming nearer,

I heard the sweet sound of a syrinx of pipes, and the bushes rustled as though some divine one were

approaching. But, instantly, the divine of goddesses cried out, saying: "Oh Pan! O obliging Pan!"

But the countrygod pushed aside the branches, peering at us from the screen of green leaves, being shy in

the quivering sunshine of noon. And, when he saw who we were, he came forth and greeted us; and he led us

through the maybushes to a little grove, on the bank of a deep stream, with a waterfall and a pool, and

mossysoft couches of moly in the shade, all of which (I believe) he invented at the moment. And, having

gathered handfuls of the herb Allheal, knowing Pan eased me of my dinted armour: but fair Helen bathed

me, and she bound the magic herb on my bruised and weary limbs. Then, indeed, I summoned benign Sleep,

And there, in the grove, we rested during several days. For I contrived a new wile, which was that I would not

hurry on my journey to lofty Olympos, but rather delay a little: for an unwilling guest has the greater honour.

Moreover, I did not wish to appear before the blessed gods in a squalid or a sordid guise, but rather as a

personage more accustomed to giving than to receiving, since I was actually a suppliant to great Zeys for the

hand of his daughter; and it is the custom of gods and men to give the best gifts to wellseeming mortals. For

which causes, I took my fill of rest, so that my strength returned, while my slaves (in the neighbouring glade)

polished my arms and my chariot as best they might, to make a respectable appearance. For magic is waived

before Pan, and men must depend entirely on their natural powers in his presence unless the god himself

But, by chance, Hermes (my grandsire), passing by on a message, espied us one day; and he stayed his flight

while he spoke with us. He said that there was much talk on the height of Olympos, because of our absence,

and because the divine ones (witnesses of my acts in the house of shady Hades) had entered into a compact

one with another to keep silence on those matters, so that the whole areiopagos of heaven might hear them (if

I so willed) from my own mouth. Which was a very pleasant hearing for me; and, indeed, I thought it

extremely nice and delicate on the part of the gods. But I answered Hermes meekly enough, saying that it was

not for me, a mortal, to enter heavenly dominions in a manner unworthy of my grandsire. And my wile

proved to be an excellent one. For Hermes, having had a word with kindly Pan, fled (swiftfooted) away,

presently returning with slowfooted Hephaistos and a portable smithy. For Hephaistos, being proud of the

armour which he made for the son of silverfooted Thetis, was unwilling that the hands of slaves should

renew its splendour. But when his forge was set up, in the neighbouring glade, the divine artificer (out of

admiration for me) deigned to employ Neandros and Thalos as his assistants instead of a parcel of kyklops of

immoderate unsightliness: more, also, he let them learn several very important tricks of his trade, when he

observed that they were intelligent workmen of ingenious and reverend mind. Such mortals, as a matter of

Thus, then, we passed the time, living on cheeses and nuts and blackberries and dandelions with the luscious

milk of incontinent goats of amiable demeanour, while I continued to repose myself, caredfor by the divine

one of goddesses and cheered by old Pan. He, indeed, entertained me vastly with stories of the youth of the

world when Great Zeys lay hid in Krete and the older gods were yet unborn; and, at other times, he attuned

his reedy pipes intonating quaint songs of the woodlands. And once, while longrobed Helen slept in the heat

of the day, the knowing old god persuaded some dryads to come out of the oaktrees in the grove to fan away

the flies when I was dozing: but he himself sat among the reeds not far away, chatting with the cheerful little

brown and silver river. They were very slim young girls (these dryads), with flesh as white as an

acornkernel, with long smooth hair of the colour of oak bark, and shy green eyes of the colour of

oakleaves, and excessively modest and timid of disposition. But, when fair Helen awakened from sleep, and

spied the industrious little creatures, her sweet face flushed like rosy dawn, and she frightened the shy

nymphs quite away by her bleak mode of thanking them for their care of me. Nor was I puffed with vanity:

for I am not the only complacent mortal who has been an occasion of jealousy to a goddess.

But, at another time, while sweet Helen was washing her robes in the pool, rustic Pan took leave to inform me

(as a friend) of her history during the previous ten centuries. And I will say that Pan was the only one of all

the blessed gods who did not ascribe my own stories about myself, and about my future life in the kingdom

of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, to some one or other of my usual altogether unexpected

wiles. But Pan knows all. And he told me how that (when I fell dead in my former chariot, from the arrow of

unknowing Telegonos, my son and that awful goddess Kirke's), in Egypt, more than a thousand years before,

then, the divine one of goddesses, Helen, had behaved very queerly indeed: for she shewed as much grief as

though she herself had caused my demise. Pan said that many persons called her grief remorse: which is

absurd. But, having vowed herself anyhow to my memory, she prepared to wander through time, mourning,

until my coming again. And heroes and kings' sons without number sought her in marriage: whom having

scorned fearfully (as far as so gentle a creature could scorn), she retired to find commodious seclusion on

lofty Olympos. But, there, a certain Kyknos, a son (they say) of fardarting Phoibos Apollon, persuaded that

god to demand her for him from Great Zeys. But the father and king of gods and men only confirmed (with a

nod) the maiden's right of choice. Thereat, blameless Kyknos would have taken her by force, following the

custom of Olympians: but her brothers, Kastor the tamer of horses and Polydeykes the pugilist, beat on his

nose so very bitterly, that beefeating Herakles wakened from slumber adding his shouts to the tumult.

Which having been explained to him, he promptly tossed Kyknos to earth from lofty Olympos, breaking him.

And Phoibos Apollon felt it incumbent upon him to take up the cause of Kyknos and to be extremely

prepotent about it. But Great Zeys, upset by coweyed Hera (most righteous of goddesses), shrouded himself

in black clouds, having decreed that the fragments of broken Kyknos must stay below to satisfy Golden

Helen, and that she (the divine one of goddesses) must not stay above, being a cause of disorderly conduct

among the young gods. But Phoibos Apollon collected the pieces of Kyknos, as many as he could find,

wherewith he made a new swan (that lickerish fowl), entirely black. But Golden Helen, debarred from the

height of Olympos, and her honour in peril from hairy men down below, betook herself further, even to the

profundity of the netherworld, where the gods were austere, and men but senseless shades, phantoms of men

worn out. And there she lived in exile, all for the sake of me, divested of godlihood, enduring ten centuries of

sorrow, the inevitable penance for the glowing glory of her immortal inmarcesible youth.

But, having heard all these things babbledof by rustic Pan one day when we dawdled together (and I could

not learn them from fair Helen, for reasons of modesty), then, indeed, I held a sort of council with the mind in

my noble breast. And I determined that, as far as I was concerned, she certainly should be rewarded for her

grievous pains. For the best of women wants no more than a little true love; and well indeed did I know that

that man is a blind besotted imbecile who, in pride or whatnot, denies himself the pleasure of making a

woman happy with what she wants, excepting (of course) for a religious reason. And, furthermore, I was

aware that I myself was by way of owing a clearlydefined duty to the golden one of goddesses, in that I

owed a debt of love to her, not only for her fidelity, or as amends for her wrongs, but chiefly because she had

procured for me several pleasing and exciting and singular adventures, teaching me how to win the Crown of

Thereafter, I spoke not a word of these pious matters: but fair Helen was not unaware that I knew all that Pan

could tell me, not as her accredited ambassador but as the trusty friend of us both. And, when I suddenly

became very eager and insistent for nuptials, she would not deny me: but she mentioned that a bride ought to

be brought from her paternal home to the house of her husband. Which doctrine I accepted. And I said that I

would contain myself till her case and my case had been suitably pleaded before verymighty manynamed

Zeys. That, then, was to be the object of our visit to the height of Olympos. For it pleased me better to go

thus, on a matter of business, than merely to arrive, sleek, grinning, and complacent, to receive prizes and

praises for athletic achievements and feats of endurance and wiliness, which, though most meritorious and

praiseworthy, and valuable also, inasmuch as they gained for me the friendship of several very important

gods (whose friendship is much preferable to their enmity), were, I affirm, rather to be classed with my

Anon, cunning Hephaistos restored to me my shining armour of silver with adornments of rockcrystals and

blue moonstones in all its pristine splendour: but he returned forthwith to olympian palaces. Neandros and

Thalos also brought my silver chariot, polished in all its parts with a sheen like the full moon, and its secret

recesses were wellfilled with water and oil. But, when we had placed my gear therein, we said farewell to

kindly Pan. And, in the cool of the evening, I led the divine one of goddesses to her place at the front: but I

mounted by her side; and the slaves climbed up behind. But fair Helen pulled the fine chain by its taslet; and

the whole chariot vibrated for sheer joy, panting and pulsating like a creature enjoying sweet life: for, at the

same moment, young Eros dived out of open space, and the silver image of him started into perfervid life,

boiling with force and merrily hooting. But we, leaping forward with his beating wings, skimmed into

distance more swiftly than an owl in flight. All through the cool night we went at tireless speed: but, whether

over sea or land, I cannot say. For, in good sooth, I was not aware of anything, save that the moon serene and

the flagrant Crab smiled upon me from the darkblue sky, that I was no longer dawdling but active and very

strong, that Golden Helen was with me for good and all, and that Love was my charioteer.

In this manner, I set forth from the silvan grove where goat footed Pan had been entertaining me.

BUT, when rosyfingered Dawn had donned her saffron robes, arising from her couch in the ocean to bring

light to mortals and immortals, then, indeed, we were nearing Tainaron, where lay the hollow ship with the

shipmen expecting my coming. And, when they saw us whizzing out of a dusty cloud like a flash of white

thunder (for, on the one side, the hair of Golden Helen streamed behind us as streams a long ray of sunbeams

in no breeze, and, on the other side, my mantle of silver tissue lined with white fur and clasped with the

Moon and the Crab in rock crystals and blue moonstones floated at large and at length beneath my towering

crest of the prides of nine white peacocks), and, when they saw Neandros and Thalos, mysteriously lost,

returning, and, when they saw the large silver Love very much alive, and, when they heard the gleeful

whoopings of untameable Love and the terrible whirring of the chariotwheels, then, indeed, their knees

tottered, and their breath popped out, and their hearts stood quite still for fear, so that their life left them, and

But we lighted in the middle of the lofty prow, even as a bird lights on the branch of a blooming tree; and,

when fair Helen pulled the silver chain, instantly ruddywhite Love soared out of his silver image into the

And now I was in a sort of quandary. For, knowing that I should need all my strength of mind and body on

lofty Olympos, knowing (also) that rule of magic which says that a man of fluid temper (such as I am) can

best collect a reserve of such strength from the sea, I had determined to go, by favour of azurehaired

Poseidon, in my galley, from Tainaron in the south, by the Eyboik Gulph, to the small port of Myrai at the

foot of mighty Mount Ossa in the north. But the rest of the journey would be made more splendidly, in my

But (such is the lot of miserable mortals, who forget to inquire the length of the lifethreads, which the

blameless Fates have spun for their fellows), I found myself, at the very outset of my voyage by sea,

possessed of a huge wellbenched ship with all its appurtenances in perfect order, but encumbered with the

corpses of oneandsixty mariners suddenly deceased, and a mere toy for the seagods. For which causes, I

sat me down on the lofty poop, taking my dear head in my hands: and I began to contrive most astonishing

wiles. But Golden Helen set by my side, like a true lover who knows when to speak to her man and when to

And, at length, it appeared to the mind in my lordly breast that the gods, divine ones inhabiting olympian

palaces, are wont to deal with mortal men in this manner, shewing them singular favours so that they may be

encouraged to expect (and, even, to insist on) a continuance of the same. For, as it is with a man, when he can

do a certain deed very well, straightway he desires also to do it very often, for the benefit of the race of men

and for all sorts of other pious and religious reasons, so, also, indeed, precisely, is it with the blessed gods,

givers of good things. Wherefore, then, seeing that tameless Love had willingly bound himself (with a silver

chain) to serve me and longrobed Helen, I contrived an altogether unmentioned and unthoughtof magic: so

that that ruddy bird of heaven might not have cause to complain that I let his blooming wings grow rusty with

Wherefore, I said unwinged words to Neandros and Thalos, explaining to them what they were to do. But,

first, having pitched the dead mariners overboard to lighten the ship, together we drew in the long oars,

bestowing them tidily as a rampart inside the bulwarks and fixing them there with well twisted knots. These

things having been accomplished, and the whole ship having been set in a new order, we took a spare sail,

white and vermilion, silken, with certain cordage, out of the store. And, when we had ascended the lofty

prow, we fastened the wheels of the silvershining chariot, fixing it where it stood, immoveably, in the

middle of the prow, so that a man might walk round and about it if he pleased, then, indeed, we hanged the

beautiful sail over it, and fastened the same to the bulwarks, in the manner of an awning with vermilion

fringes. Thus, the splendour of the chariot was concealed from the eyes of casual inquisitives: but the silver

image of Love emerged above the awning as a figurehead for my galley: and the taslets of the silver chain

but Golden Helen pulled the chain of the silver image. And, instantly, young Love descended into his image;

and the silver Love lived, flying with his tireless wings; so that the great ship moved most rapidly across the

frightened sea, having neither oars nor other sail. But I governed the course with the steering oar; and the

Now when I came again to hold council with my noble mind, I was aware that (in winning the Treasure of

Hades) I procured for myself such a companion as I never had had before. In sooth I have had comrades a

many in my various lives; and, among them I will name the most desirable Red Heart of the southern sea, and

the gloriolous son of Sycorax, and the unchangeable George of the Roses, and timidlyfalse Aubrey, and

Hugh the priest devoured by hidden hatred and envy and prepotence, and blind Karterikos of Bosporos, and

loving Vergilio, and na�ve elegant Khekkhi, and also Diomedes of the loud warcry, and great hearted

yellowheaded Akhilleys. Now, with a man, a man may fight, and (at any rate) must quarrel: or there can be

no true love, for love is not proved true until it has been tested by reconciliation after strife, preferably very

bloody. And herein is the difference between a comrade and a companion. For, with a woman, no man may

dispute: but, if she has an evil mind, he may avoid her or annul her: but, when the gods, givers of good gifts,

send to a man such a woman as he may fitly take for a companion, then, indeed, he becomes one with her, in

that her ill is his hurt and her good his benefit. For it is very pleasing to the pride of a man to have a treasure

to guard and to care for. And, until this time, all my wiles and all my wisdom had not won for me such a

treasure. Not but what Queen Penelope had been a true wife to me while she had life on the earth: but, of

those years there were twenty, when wars and the displeasure of certain blameless gods kept me away from

her, so that (speaking with perfect respect to her face) I may say that she was a faithful wife and a most

prudent housewife, but not by any means a companion. And, as for the quiteirrelevant matter of those divine

ones of goddesses with whom I had intimate relations, to wit, deathless Kirke and Kalypso of the greasy

braided tresses, who (I ask) can presume to talk about companionship when a man is imprisoned, with an

awful woman, on a little islet surrounded by the boundless ruthlessly smiling sea. But Golden Helen was

But, coming to Khalkis, we stayed there, to procure sweet water and nutriments, before proceeding northward

by the Eyboik Gulph. And hardhearted envious Hera, that arch mischiefmaker among goddesses, sent me

For, while my slave Neandros was negotiating with merchants on the quay, loading the hollow ship with

cheeses, and wheat (the marrow of men), and the flesh of bulls and swine, with herbs and dainty birds, and

jars of oil and wine and beer, and casks of sweet water, I, with longrobed Helen, landed privately to view

the city. For I had heard that Romans were occupying holy Eyboia at that time, the island of rich vines,

whence Elephenor son of Khalkodon led the proud longhaired Abantes in forty black ships to the siege of

windy Ilion. And, neither in the future from which (for a religious reason) I had come, nor in the past from

which also I had come, had I ever seen the conquering Romans in their togas as they lived, excepting once by

chance in Khem. For which cause I determined to use this opportunity of informing my inquisitive mind.

And we too, therefore, happy as children who have found out a new game, disguised ourselves before we

went to play truant in Khalkis. For fair Helen covered herself with a dark robe, veiling also her hair like a

web of woven sunbeams: but I did on a tunic of grey wolves' skins having on my head a berreta of

ferretskins, taking also a very sharp sword and a pouch full of silver and gold. And, when we came to the

landward end of the quay, a beaknosed soldier armed in cheap bronze stopped us; and he demanded of us

diplomas permitting us to draw sweet breath in Roman territory. For it seemed that the Romans, like locusts,

were infesting the whole earth. I, indeed, began to try to edge in a wily word about a beverage: but the soldier

led me to the guardhouse to settle the matter with his decurion, who, also, was a dull boor amenable neither

to words nor bribes. For I told him that my name was Ithakides son of Ithakos son of Ptenopedilos son of

Kelainephes Polyonomos, and that I came from Egypt where I had been collecting antiquities: all of which

was perfectly true and entirely misleading, simply because the lout was ignorant of the various uses of words.

Also I said that the lady was my wife, sister of certain friends of mine by cognomen Asterostephanoi, who

was taking a voyage for the benefit of her health and to visit her aged father in Thessaly. And that also was

true. But it seemed that the decurion's duty was only to ask questions, but not to pay the slightest regard to the

answers. And he would not take a bribe, because (I am sure) no one had ever offered him such a thing before,

and he was dreadfully afraid. But he said merely that I must go to prison pending an inquiry.

And I, indeed, made no objection, being always greedy for new experiences, and, moreover, both I and

Golden Helen did not restrain our laughter when we remembered who we were to whom such indignities

were offered. Wherefore, having tucked away my natural ferocity, I was as meek as a clod: but I watched

events with steady eyes. But I told fair Helen to go to a convent of the priestesses of Pallas Athene near the

marketplace, there to wait till I should be dismissed without a stain upon my character. And, presently, the

centurion himself appeared; and he would escort her thither: for he, indeed, perceived that we were persons of

quality; and he said that, if nothing against me could be collected by the following day, he would give me a

diploma valuable for all Akhaia. Also, he regretted my detention, assuring me that he himself was under

authority. And, when he came back from attending the divine one of goddesses, we conversed, until I had

emptied his mind into mine: but that was a pastime, and not a new labour for Herakles.

And, when Dawn (the mother of morning) was come again, and, when Helios Hyperion had driven the

chariot of the sun to the height of heaven and was on the downward way toward his bed in the ocean, then,

the Roman centurion (having found out no ill of me) gave me the promised diploma, setting me at liberty.

But I hastened to the convent of the priestesses of Pallas Athene. But the portress said that the divine one of

goddesses had been summoned to meet me at the palace of the governour of the province, whither she had

gone at noon, with a plump of spearmen for a guard. To which place I followed her as quickly as possible;

and the mind in my dear breast was full of dire foreboding. For I remembered certain words which the

centurion had let fall in his cups of the previous night, concerning the sins of Roman governours in general,

who bought their governourships by bribes, expecting to recoup themselves (for the outlay of a lifetime) by

the crimes which a year of governourship made possible. Also, he had spoken of the governour of Akhaia in

particular, by name Anthemius Cotta, saying that he was a Nouus Homo of coarse manners and huge wealth

accumulated (no one knew how) in Asia, that he had bought his governourship, being possessed of a

gluttonous appetite for the eels of Lake Kopais, greedily engorging the same without ceasing excepting to

pant occasionally, and, that he was despised and detested, inasmuch as he cultivated Asiatic vices, filling his

But I found no sentry at the palacegate, so lax is the rule of a luxurious governour. An elegant slave in a

Persian mitre, however, mentioned that Anthemius Cotta had finished the business of the day. And then,

indeed, divine Rage inflamed me with the desire of horribly pinching and mangling; and, staring very starkly,

I invaded the place without more ado. Crowds of feeble persons fell away from me, as I passed in frightful

silence. And, suddenly, I heard the voice of Golden Helen moaning for me by name.

But I rushed toward the sound, tearing down a curtain, and running along a painted hall where a meal was

spread. At the other end, a single negro, armed with a monstrous curving scymetar, kept watch before another

curtained door. His grinning head sprang to the right, and his bloodspouting carcase thudded to the left: but

She was at the far end of the chamber, back to wall. Two loathsome rollingeyed eunuchs lay at her feet,

blasted by her amber fires. But there were others, about to attempt an onslaught. And, before her, stood the

Roman governour, a ceruminous personality, fatty and pustulous, and of proboscidean flaccidity. Upon whom

I wreaked many most mind grieving evils, saying nothing. For, first, I impaled him, thrusting my sword

through his right shoulder, and spinning him (yelling) round by the hilt to face me. Next, having clutched a

handful of his glabrous forehead and a large handful of his cataract of chins, I tore off his countenance; and

threw it away. But he dropped on his belly, scrabbling the floor with tettered toes and fingers.

But the eunuchs were petrified with terror; and Golden Helen, seeing me near, was ready to swoon. Her,

indeed, I bore (senseless) to a couch; and bestowed her safely while I finished the business.

The eunuchs had to turn the Roman governour face upward and to spit by turns into his rolling lidless eyes,

while he winced, mewling with unlipped mouth. I drew my sword from its fat sheath, and flashed it through

the eunuchs' necks, so that they fell asunder in a heap, but their heads rolled about the floor. I was minded

also to carve Anthemius Cotta slowly into slices: but my gorge rose somewhat squeamishly. For which cause,

I only cut the sinews of his knees and elbows, and heaped the carcases of his slaves upon him, having

collected their black heads: but I stuffed his own face into his mouth. And, being satiated with slaughter, I

covered the mound with a door curtain, lest the eyes of the goddess should be offended.

But her, I carried into the painted hall; and, having cleansed myself in several bowls of rosewater, I used the

wine (which was there) to restore her. And anon we left the palace, being of an aspect so godly and terrific,

that the slaves scuffled (cat like) to hide themselves as we passed by. But, hastening to the quay, we

BUT, when my galley was in the open water of the Eyboik Gulph, we sat together upon the lofty poop; and

the divine one of goddesses told me all her adventures. For, Anthemius Cotta, having seen her going to the

convent of priestesses of Pallas Athene, sent her a message as from me, saying that I was an honoured guest

at the palace. And, when she (suspecting no evil) went thither, the governour offered her fair words, bribes,

and violence, by turn, persuading her to submit to indignities. But she repulsed him, summoning to her aid

the godly forces (inherited but long unused), which she possessed as daughter of Great Zeys Pantokrator. But,

sooth to say, the sweet maid was no longer able to hold her own against fiercepassioned gods or men. Not

that she would ever yield: but ten weary lonely centuries in the netherworld had weakened her high hereditary

forces, so that she needed an ally. And, now that her peril was averted, she let fall a round tear, like a

frightened child very anxious for a companion and protector. Whom I reverently consoled, swearing a great

Now, if I had been alone, nothing would have pleased me more than going through Akhaia and Makedonia

by land, seeking adventures, taking revenges, stultifying the Roman conquerors by the spells of magic art.

Such, indeed, would have been a very convenient course for a Mage practising the uses of his arts and crafts,

and pleasing enough for a Master at liberty. But, since so great a god as Love had taught me, binding himself

(with a blooming chain) to serve me, I was aware that service is as far above liberty as lofty Olympos is

above deep Tartaros: nineteen times nineteen days, indeed, will a brazen anvil pass in dropping sheer from

the one to the other. Wherefore, knowing how godly a thing it is to be a servant, I also bound myself with the

For, it had been in my mind, even in voyaging by sea, to visit Opoyntian Lokri, for the sake of Aias the Less,

who wore a linen corslet, and (though a mite of a man) was by far the best spear thruster of all the Argives

when we besieged windy Ilion. Also, I would have visited the steep fortress of Dios, north of the Gulph, and

Antron by the seashore, and Pteleon couched in grass in its rockbound bay, and rugged Olizon with the sea

on both sides of it. But, for the sake of my timid maid, whom I bade to be comforted, I said that we would not

For which cause, sped by Love's wings, we sailed northward, passing leafy Pelion on the left: but, anon,

having come to the small port of Myrai at the foot of mighty Ossa, there we cast anchor in a secluded

roadstead in the middle of the night. And, uncovering my silvershining chariot, we untwisted the knots

But I left my wellbenched galley in charge to Neandros and Thalos, bidding them to hold it ready for me

anywhen, but perhaps after a long absence. And when we had mounted to our places, the divine one of

goddesses pulled the silver chain; and Love, our charioteer, lived in his silver image, and flew with

wideswept wings, hooting for joy because we were beginning the last stage of our journey to lofty Olympos.

Aurora, mother of morning, rose from her couch in the sea when we traversed the lovely vale of Tempe, fresh

with glittering dew, where the nightmists rose from Peneys' diminished flood. Helios Hyperion, lord of

light, looked from the zenith at noon when we began to mount the long slopes which lead to the peak of

Olympos. Hesperos, star of evening, gleamed in the violet sky when we came to the little shrine by the Holy

The priest came out, marvelling that travellers should arrive at that hour: for most men fear the mountain after

nightfall, believing it to be improper for them to go very near the paths which the gods tread in their nocturnal

journeys. But he marvelled still more, when he saw what manner of travellers we were, and the

silvershining chariot pulsating like a creature having sweet life during the first few moments after

longrobed Helen had released our charioteer pulling the silver chain. But I and the priest led the daughter of

Zeys the Swan to the guestchamber of the shrine, there to pass the night: for we were unwilling to approach

the abode of the blessed gods, dishevelled and weary and stained with travel. But, after we had dismissed

hunger, having supped, I indeed went out to pass the night in the open, keeping a vigil by my silvershining

armour with adornments of rockcrystals and blue moonstones, and communing with my lordly mind.

And, when the night was waning, and near was the dawn, and the stars had gone upward, and the night had

advanced more than two watches, but the third watch was still left, then, indeed, I cleansed the dust from my

monstrous chariot, burnishing the silver of it and the crabs and moons inlaid in lustrous mother of pearl, till it

shone like a white flame. But the silver image of Love, larger than life, blindfolded, naked, most alluringly

proportioned, poised on the front of the rail with his well winged arms spread abroad in the very act of

taking flight, this, indeed, I treated as a man would treat his own large ruddy son in a bath if he were a god.

For I washed it all over with a sponge, going firmly into every crevice where dirt might obscenely lodge; and

I dried it delicately with soft linen, polishing the smoothgleaming skin and rubbing in soft oil with my

hands. And, opening the secret recesses of the chariot, I poured in fresh water and oil, so that the wellcarved

wheels might freely revolve in courses. But I did also in like manner with my armour, giving it a radiance as

of the serene and vivid moon in springtime. And, having stripped myself to bathe in the icecold limpid

water gushing from the Holy Well (for with pure body and pure mind the wise man approaches the blessed

gods, then, indeed, I put on my glorious armour: first, the wellshaped greaves for my legs, covered with

rockcrystals and blue moonstones and fitted with clasps: then, the white leathern kirtle with taslets of silver

lapping about my reins, clothing my body above with my coat of silver mail, and the corslet on my breast and

back and shoulders also of hammered silver plates with adornments of rockcrystals and blue moonstones.

But I suspended from my shoulders the sword in its silver sheath and the silver quiver of arrows gleaming

with moony gems. But, on my head, I placed the glittering helmet with a towering crest of the prides of nine

white peacocks; and dreadfully the plume nodded from above. And I shod my feet with the wellmade

sandals of white leather, taking the great black singing bow wellfitted to my hand, and the great and sturdy

shield bright as the moon. But I covered myself with the vast trailing mantle of silver tissue lined with white

fur, clasped with the scintillating signs of the Moon and the Crab. And the sheen of my splendour reached

heaven, when I stood stamping and gnashing my teeth: nor was I fearful of meeting my peer anywhere, even

But, when goldenthroned Dawn arose from her oceanbed, I led the divine one of goddesses, fresh and pure

as a pearl in a setting of red gold, to her place in the chariot; and I mounted beside her. But she pulled the

silver chain; and young Love dived headlong out of heaven into his image; and the silver image lived,

sweeping his wide wings, swimming in the higher air, with triumphant trumpetings and merry whirring of

wheels, toward the wall of cloud which shrouds the city of the gods, the habitation of Great Zeys.

Thus, brilliantly blazing and swift as a flash of white thunder, I entered lofty Olympos.

THE HORA Eirene, warden of the gate, challenged us: whom Golden Helen answered, giving the password,

demanding free passage as a daughter of Great Zeys. But Hermes, my grandsire, and the Great Twins, and

boldlysteadfast Herakles, stood within the gate ready to greet us. Moreover, the golden streets were

thronged with the beautiful children of gods and heroes, scattering amaranthine diadems. Thus, we went to

But King Zeys, the father of gods and men, sat on his clouded throne, with Queen Hera of the white arms (the

most righteous of goddesses) who had hundredeyed peacocks about her. But, on the right and left, were

other thrones inhabited by all the gods and goddesses, whose courtiers were immortal youths innumerable

having limbs of flaming whiteness and rayed hair. There, was Pan the lord of woodlands, and loosehaired

Iakhos Dionysos the Son of fire washed by waternymphs, and Phoibos Apollon lord of the silver bow, and

Artemis beautiful queen of arrows, and tameless Pallas Athene of the dark Aigis, and blameless Aphrodite of

the violet crown, and silverfooted Thetis unhappy mother of the noblest son, and even King Poseidon of

loudroaring white horses: but shady King Hades (the most righteous of gods) was absent for reasons of

health, and his black throne gaped void. But my heart was leaping for joy in my dear breast: for I was aware

that the fifth prediction, which innocent Thalos made when he looked into the palmmirror, was in fact being

realized. For indeed the silver god and the golden goddess were standing before many gods and goddesses.

But astute Hermes, the yellowwanded luckbringer and soul guide, signed me with silence. He rose in his

place among the glorious immortals; and began to expound my cause. Thus, then, he spoke: "O Father and

King of gods and men, before this conclave of divine ones stands the steadfast goodly Odysseys, the

muchenduring contriver of innumerable wiles, who claims as a sweetguest gift the hand of Golden Helen,

To whom Great Zeys responded, saying: "Odysseys, we know; and Helen, we know. But never before has

one of the sons of men aspired to lead in open marriage a goddess, daughter of the race of the Kronides.

Hitherto, indeed, passing (but none the less vehement) passions, or transient (but none the less perfervid)

affections, have been the utmost relations between immortals and mortals. For we gods are severe, envious

above others; and we grudge that immortals shall mate with mortals, when anyone shall take a dear wife or a

husband: as when rosyfingered Eos took Orion (that stalwart hunter), so long the gods who lived easily

envied her, until chaste Artemis of the golden throne slew him, attacking him with her mild weapons.

Moreover, the thing also is new: for, whereas, heretofore, gods and goddesses have loved mortal women and

men in secret, now, this Odysseys, boundless in audacity, openly demands a goddessbride before all the

court of heaven. Wherefore, lest we be captured in some snare of this notoriouslywily one, we require that

eloquent Hermes (his sponsor) shall give good and sufficient reason for such artless candour, such ingenuous

Hermes came down from his own throne among the divine immortals, passing the throne of radiant Phoibos

Apollon, the bright one, the pure one, crowned with the sun in his splendour; and he took thence the lyre

which he himself had made for the master of the music, fashioned out of the hollow shell of a crab like

polished translucent amber and opsidian, from which sprang the silvery horns of unicorns to the olivewood

He came down, to the clear blue �therial floor studded with golden stars, in the sight of all, like a princely

youth in youth's full bloom whose youth is very graceful, the largest and lithest and loveliest and wisest and

most innocent ever seen, smooth and lissome and gleaming as living ivory, and his bare head crowned with

He came down; and cast (to the floor, by his feet) his purple mantle,by his agile feet, shod with

goldenwinged sandals, and laid his golden wand upon it, he lightly standing poised on one fair foot; and

He held the heavenly lyre on his thigh with his hollowed arm, leaning toward till it could not help kissing his

beautiful youthful breast; and with a quill, he tried it note by note: but it sounded, deeply thrumming beneath

his hands. And the young god sang under the notes of the lyre, a doublythrilling intonation, making an

extemporaneous attempt, as fullgrown boys at feasts sing with different voices, rivalling one another in turn.

He sang; and, at his song, my spirit reeled, so strong and passing sweet the strain. One universal smile it

seemed, of joy beyond compare, unutterable gladness, imperishable life of peace and love, exhaustless

wealth, illimitable power, the cup of health brimful, and bliss immeasurable. Such was his tone.

He sang; and, at his voice, my spirit lived again, that youthful heavenly sunny voice, which welled from his

open well sunned throat, not shrill like a boy's nor clogged like a man's, but full and vibrant, true as a bell,

loud as gigantic trumpets, deep and clear as a limpid river, now high now low from middle notes ranging,

strong and resonant as the voice of an everyoung god who is both boy and man, warbling unearthly melody

He sang; and the faces of all the immortals became diaphanous with unimaginable radiance; and the steady

godly eyes gleamed like fixed stars at the rapturous magic of his singing. For he sang of arms and the man,

the deathless song of the man so ready at need, never so strong nor so fierce nor so terrible as when he

(naked) fought fearful odds and a losing battle back to the wall, who wandered far and wide after he had

sacked the sacred citadel of Ilionthe deathless song of much contriving muchenduring Odysseys, and of

all the deeds which ever I had done since the distant day when I, a great boy, met Helen, the divine one of

goddesses, a tender girl, who watched me faring girded high through the ford of Eyrotas by rugged

Lakedaimon; and of the doughty deeds which thenafter I did at the siege of Dardanian Ilion. He sang of my

wily contrivance, the Wooden Horse, whereby at length we Argives took the city: of the wanderings of

Golden Helen, and of mine: of our meeting again in torrid Egypt and our wooing there, and of how there I

died, slain by unknowing Telegonos my own son and Kirke's of the awful braided tresses. And, in a solemn

slow low descant, he sang of how that was the first time, and the last, when ever I lay in the pure arms of

He paused; and the immortal gods wept softly, at the sadness of his song and the cruel fate which drove us

He bowed his beautiful godly young breast for the lucky horns of the lyre to kiss again; and his wonderful

fingers skilfully wielded the quill which awakened the delicate voice of the strings. And he sang of my

farfuture birth in the seagirt island, kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans: of my

sordid squalid lot there; and of the wily audacious ferocity of the deeds, which I did in contempt of all men,

He sang of how I, grieving in mind because not one single honourable friend or companion came near me,

but only rogues and tosspots and false traitors, set out to wander in strange lands, studying all divine

mysteries and magic lore, seeking for wisdom everywhere. He sang of my marvellous deeds, summoning

ghostly souls from the dead and bending them to my will: of how, in Egypt, I halffailed in the ordeal of the

scorching staff, and of the consequence which befell. And, there, his sacred strain leaped, leaped like one

who meets a sudden slimy toad sitting very still upon his way, leaped, and was still.

And the immortal gods kept silence. Night flung her violet mantle round the dome of heaven; and she pinned

it with a star. But those resplendent faces scintillated like many moons in the violet luminous sheen, intense,

He took the lyre close to the warmth of his wellspread breast in the hollow of his shoulder uplifting his

stainless throat, singing with the wellstruck strings. And he sang jewels five words long, which, on the

stretched forefinger of all time, shall sparkle for ever, singing of my long fall backward through the rolling

wheels of time: of my vision in the secret subterranean shrine at Thebes: of my voyage adown the sacred

river of Egypt: of my coming to Tanis: of my doings with the hierarch Amenemhat; and of my flight to the

He sang of my magic invocation of the azurehaired earth shaking lord of ocean: of the apparition of King

Poseidon amiablyminded: of my going to the shrine of fardarting Phoibos Apollon at Delphi, and the

oracle chaunted by the levated Pythia: of my meeting unafraid with Pan, and his goodly gift of clearseeing.

He sang (and his cadences rippled) of my furious drive down hill, over the rivers of cold and of flame, for the

He stretched out all the slim lithe strength of his ivory limbs, lambent and supple and warm with refulgent

youth, to the heavenly lyre. His fair throat poured forth a stronger canorous strain, thrilled with unspeakable

splendour. And he sang of the singing of Golden Helen in exile: to whose sweet anthem, all the blissful court,

He sang of how I escaped from fetters and dungeon: of how my wiles and my audacity and my endurance,

sneeredat or scorned by men, made great gods glad to serve me: of the fight of the six champions, sons of

kings and mighty heroes all. And Herakles, glory of Hera, burst into boisterous blubberings, inasmuch as he

He sang of my treatment of titans: of the wounding of shady Hades of recording mind, inexorable king of the

land of the shades. And all the gods and goddesses cried aloud, beating on their blessed knees, because of the

He sang so divine a song, that even fancy's ear records it not, and the pen must pass on, leaving a blank: for,

nor mortal speech, nor even the inward shaping of the mind has colour fine enough to paint the sweet great

strain of his nectar, flower like, fertile of song. He sang of my wonderful journey out of the netherworld: of

the swift death of my shipmen, fearful, when they saw my mysterious coming: of my lonely voyage in my

He sang of the sturdy unswerving indomitable force, reward of my wiles and my audacity and my endurance,

which had brought me bearing spoils, even the Treasure of Hades, from out of the deep and the shade, to the

Such was the close of his marvellous melody. And, as the last tone thrilled, strong as a proclamation, Echo

caught the strain, repeating ever lowly, and more low, from sphere to sphere, LOVE . . . Love . . . Love . . .

Rosyfingered Dawn, crowned with auroral coronal, flung wide the gates of day: Hellos Hyperion began to

drive in scintillating splendour across the sky: the rays of the rising sun splashed beams of golden light over

the clouded throne of the Father and King of gods and men, when Hermes finished singing thus for me before

BUT King Zeys Pampator sat up, and said: "What, O divine ones inhabiting olympian palaces, think ye now

But boldly steadfast Herakles rose from his throne, saying, in a voice even louder than Stentor's: "He is

But the Lord of the Lightning and the Dark Cloud spoke again, saying: "What, O divine ones inhabiting

But chaste Artemis, beautiful queen of arrows, rose from her throne, saying: "Let the hero wear his spoil."

And the gods and goddesses sang again together, making the Sign, "So mote it be."

But I saw that there were some who did not join in the voting; and one of those was Queen Hera of the white

arms, the most righteous of goddesses; and another was blameless Queen Aphrodite of the violet crown: the

first, because it is bitter for a woman to be supplanted in her husband: the second, because of jealousy on

But the Father and King of gods and men said: "It pleaseth us; and so, we, of our own free will, command

And, saying this, he nodded with his immortal head, so that I might be encouraged. For the nod of Zeys is the

greatest pledge among the immortals: for his pledge, even whatsoever he shall sanction with his nod, is

irrevocable, not false, nor unfulfilled. And, in the sight of all, he drew me from Golden Helen's side, out of

my silver chariot, where we had been standing together during a day and a night enraptured with the singing

of Hermes. And he breathed upon me, so that my mortal nature was blown away from me: but I bathed in the

breath of the god, being soaked in the source of the fire of eternal youth, the prime and flower of strength;

and such red blood as was in my veins was sublimed, giving place to crystalline ichor, very pure and limpid,

such, to wit, as flows in the veins of the blessed gods: for we eat no bread, nor drink gleaming wine,

And, while I was yet encompassed with the thick clouds of the god, beautiful dark Sleep was permitted to

But, when, at length, I awakened, I was in another place. And Phoibos Apollon, lord of the silver bow, and

strenuous Herakles whom not Hera but Eros could conquer, were come to conduct me to the marriagefeast.

And they spoke of many things: saying that the immortals were rejoicing in the happiness of so wily a

warrior and so fair a maid, save only the lord Hermes who (after his long singing during a day and a night)

was curing a relaxed larynx, and also shady King Hades who was raging horribly on account of painful

perforations, and swearing that neither I nor Golden Helen need ever think to expect hospitality from him

The divine one of goddesses was brought by her Great Twin Brothers, starcrowned Kastor the tamer of

horses and Polydeykes the pugilist. But, before she came to stand with me at the throne of King Zeys, then,

indeed, divine Memory illumined my noble mind, shewing me a remembrance of a most graceful Spell. And,

instantly, I stooped to the limpid river which flows through the clearblue �therial realm, taking a handful of

crystal water, a sacred lavation, wherewith to sprinkle the maid whose hair was like a web of woven

sunbeams, saying the Spell of The Three Who are One. And all the immortals bowed their radiant heads,

But, after the nuptials, we feasted, eating purple ambrosial jellies, dainties, such as Zeysnourished kings eat,

with savours of unblemished hecatombs, and quaffing foaming flagons of nectar distilled from the apples of

heaven and flavoured with roses and rosemary: till, at last, rustic Pan threw nuts on the floor, for Love and

Desire and Sleep and Death and Hyakinthos and the cupbearers and other children to scramble for. But, when

we had drunk a last cup to Hermes the Luckbringer, I led Queen Helen to the palace which mighty Herakles

had lent to us. For that hero was shewing himself very friendlike to me, on account of my wily deeds and

my long endurance of evils, since he also had done deeds and suffered intolerable evils in his turn. Moreover,

the said hero was very wellmannered and able to rule himself, wherein he differed from many of the

immortals. And, beside all these things, he was the most married man on the peak of Olympos: for which

In this manner was the Crown of All Wisdom confirmed to me, when, having been chaired in the college of

immortals, I led Queen Helen, the Treasure of Hades, into sacred matrimony, in the presence of the gods of

I, in sooth, had kissed her in the house of blameless Hades, before the combat of the heroes: but she had not

returned the sweet embrace. And now she told me the reason: saying that it is an immutable law that an

immortal goddess, who kisses a mortal man in honourable love, thereby fulminates him. Wherefore, when (in

Egypt) I was warring against the five nations, more than a thousand years before, and when Telegonos

wounded me near the blooming groin with his dark arrow, then, sweet Helen (mad with fear and love) kissed

me, staying me in her arms in the battle at the mouth of sacred Sihor. Of which arrowwound, I should not

have died: but, of the kiss, her first, I died. So, lest I should again be lost to her, she had not kissed me in the

house of shady Hades. But, now that I was immortal, as was she the divine one of goddesses, Golden Helen

And, anon, she said: "Lord king and husband of me, seeing that we rejoice in happiness, being immortal and

mingled in love, so that we have no desire unsatisfied, let us be merciful to one who hateth us and kind to him

who has wronged us: for, indeed, it is not right continually to be enraged in one's mind."

But this was a most strange saying, whereat I wondered gravely: for such ways had not been taught to Golden

Helen, nor were they known at that time. And then I remembered the grace conveyed by that most mighty

magic, the sacred lavation and the Spell of The Three Who are One, which, in a mystery, I had been moved to

work upon her before our nuptials. And then I was not affrighted by any more amazement.

But she was embracing my knees, continuing to speak, saying: "Go, now, dear lord and husband, faring

immortally to Khalkis in holy Eyboia; and take also sweet white Death with thee. And, having entered to

Anthemius Cotta the Roman governour, let the pale god draw from his breast gently the torch of his life,

quenching its flickering flame, so that his body may rest from its torments. For he is unfit to continue alive

and in health. But, though he would have despitefully used me, I am unwilling that he should writhe much

Thus she spoke: but I kissed the pitiful maid again, rejoicing at the grace which was replenishing her. And,

having summoned kindly Death, together we went, faring invisibly from lofty Olympos with the speed of a

thought: for we immortals in nowise appear visibly to everybody. But, when we came to Khalkis after the

middle of the night, when night is darkest, then I took the divine white child, silent, garlanded with asphodel,

by his frosty hand leading him; and, so, we entered the chamber of the Roman governour, plain for all to see.

He lay upon a bed, mangled and shapeless, moaning in the throes of his torments. But, when the slaves,

physicians, watching beside him, saw me radiant in silver armour with adornments of rockcrystals and blue

moonstones, and the pale young god purer and colder than glittering frost, standing in presence manifest in an

But I addressed the moribund, saying: "Uneasy Anthemius, know that Queen Helen, daughter of Great Zeys,

whom thou didst use despitefully, wills to release thee from these earthly pangs which are but a just penance

for thy crimes. Nevertheless, the divine one of goddesses bids thee to enjoy the blessed rest of death, gaining

Thus I spoke; and I uttered the spell which unchains the soul from the body. And white Thanatos stooped,

with his tender young frigid fingers drawing the torch of life from the Roman's bloody breast; and, blowing

upon it, he extinguished its flickering flame. And Anthemius sighed, and was comforted, retiring to the world

Now, when we had dwelled in the palace of Herakles during the full course of the moon, then, indeed, Great

Zeys ordained to employ me in a certain duty. For it is the custom on the threshold of the immortals that,

whoever shall be raised to the rank of a godly hero and endowed with immortality, must visit in person the

courts of strange gods, announcing his own apotheosis and receiving recognition. Wherefore, the cloud

compelling son of Khronos bade me to prepare for my progress: but to astute Hermes was assigned the task

For, as do earthdwelling kings, each having power and dominion over his own people, so also do the gods,

each having power and dominion over his own worshippers. And, upon occasions, disputes arise among the

various dynasties inhabiting the widerolling heavens, and wars and fearful conflicts follow, when the high

gods fight among themselves for lordship over the hearts of men. In which quarrels, the divine ones of the

Argive race are ever to the fore and very ready at need: seeing that the nations of the Argives are wont to

stablish colonies, daughtercities, in barbarian lands, crossing the unvintaged sea, whereto they carry a sacred

fire from their mothercity; and they pray not to the strange gods of the barbarians among whom they dwell,

but to the familiar gods of their dear motherland. Furthermore, the strange gods of the barbarians sometimes

send solemn embassages of heroes to the king of gods and men, bearing complaints, because their rites go

unrecognised by the Argives inhabiting their domains. Then, indeed, Great Zeys, having taken counsel with

the olympian immortals, returns a just decision in like manner. At other times, dire complications

unexpectedly arise, when the strange gods send plagues (perchance of rats or dragons), or pestilences

(perchance of bad blind boils), or even famines, to punish the prepotence or the impiety of their blameless

barbarians; and, by chance, one of the Argive colonists perishes by reason of the scourge. Then, indeed,

loudthundering Zeys inflames himself with mighty wrath, when his dear Argive folk fall victims to the

clumsiness of the indiscriminating gods of the sosinful barbarians; and he exacts a compensation. But the

immortal gods love not to war overmuch among themselves, their battles being terrific and the issues not

And it chanced that, at the time when I reached my chair in the college of the immortals and of my blissful

nuptials, that there was a matter of feud between us and the theocracy of Juppiter Stator. For the Latin gods,

very stolid, very bucolic, were claiming the worship of the whole Argive race throughout the earth. And they,

rash and overweening, alleged that, as the fair Argive land had submitted to their bloody Romans, so, also,

Olympian Zeys ought to acknowledge as his blooming suzerain their Capitoline Juppiter.

For which cause, longenduring and tiresome and tedious conversations of high diplomacy were striving to

adjust the dispute without appeal to the arbitrament of war. But a regrettable incident was likely to occur at

any moment: for Ares, bane of mortals, weary of the arts of peace, paraded himself daily wearing shield and

sword; and boldlysteadfast Herakles, weary of the arts of husbandry, was carving a collection of most

minddelighting clubs; and my own sweet cousin, Perseys of the sea, the most renowned of heroes, weary of

the arts of love, was all agog to meet monsters more worthy than pterodactyls in deadly strife. Wherefore, the

Father and King of gods and men bade me to visit, first, those strange gods who were known not to be

unfriendly; and, then, to proceed to Rome: so that, returning to Olympos directly from the court of Juppiter

And, having embraced me and Queen Helen, verymighty Zeys gave us our charters fairly written out by

cunning Hermes, my grandsire, who first brought letters and the art of writing into the Argive land.

BUT we ascended the silvershining chariot inlaid with crabs and moons in motherofpearl, a wonder to be

seen, Love being our charioteer; and we flew afar to the remote regions of the skies, gazing (from time to

Now there were certain dynasties of gods, such as those of Anahoyak and Nippon and Serica, with whom the

Olympians dealt but rarely: for they were of a secretive nature, nor did they exactly welcome guests from

afar, but rather did they slam the door of divine hospitality, excepting when rare embassages brought news of

very grave matters. And, indeed, no such embassage had been sent from lofty Olympos across the streams of

ocean since Pantokrator Zeys sent pious Deykalion announcing his accession to the throne of Khronos. For

which cause, it was not deemed necessary that I and Queen Helen should fare so far to visit divine ones

And, first, we came to the court of the gods of Assyria. There, indeed, we were mingled in friendship with the

Seven Magnificencies, Anna who rules the Assyrian sky, Ea who rules their earth, Mulge who rules their

abyss, the three rulers of their sun and their moon and their air, and Belmarduk the god. Beside those, we

were mingled in courtesy with their fifty great gods, and their three hundred heavenly sprites, and their six

hundred earthly sprites. Also, I held converse with their heroes, Gilgamish and Eabani, the same who came to

me in Khem; and, while I admired their most artificial beards, the mind in my lordly breast grieved, because

(though brave enough and strong) they seemed to me to be but curly and oily bullocks or gladiators in

comparison with Herakles or Perseys or Kastor and Polydeykes, and the other wellbred heroes of Olympos.

But I held very wily conversation with Belmarduk the god, gaining certain wisdom which need not be written

But we journeyed on to the court of the gods of Iran, immortals who bear the strangest of names, such as

Ormuzd whom we Argives call *** or Light, and Ashem or A*H*EIA meaning Truth, and Vohu Mano or

E*NOIA meaning Good Sense, and Khshathrem or E*NOMIA meaning Power, and Armaiti or *O*IA

meaning Obedience and Haurvatat or **O*TO* meaning Perfection. But chiefly was the mind in my dear

breast exalted with pure joy when I came, radiant in my moonlike sheen, into the presence of Great Mithra.

For the unconquered god of the Iranian sun looked upon me so earnestly, with wise young eyes of such

transcendent candour, that I was moved to know as much as possible from him. Wherefore, I gave him the

Sign of the Father of Warriors. Instantly he replied, signing me with the Sign of the Father of Bulls. I gave

him the Sign of the Father of Lions; and he signed me with the Sign of the Father of Vultures. I gave him the

Sign of the Father of Ostriches; and he signed me with the Sign of the Father of Ravens. I gave him the Sign

of the Father of Gryphons; and he signed me with the Sign of the Father of Perses. I gave him the Sign of the

Father of Suns; and he signed me with the Sign of the Father of Eagles. I gave him the Sign of the Father of

Falcons; and he signed me with the Sign of the Father of Fathers which is the summit of the twelve. But,

because I was ware that I had come upon my master, I made myself obedient, gaining such wisdom as is not

But we journeyed on to the court of Benares; and, having shewn my charters, we departed as speedily as

possible. For it would have been a shameful deed, to have exposed Queen Helen to the evil communications

of a horde of riotous brutes, apes, reptiles, abortions, frightful malformations, greasy with rancid butter,

dripping with fresh blood and mildewed with stale, interminablyheaded illimitablyarmed

innumerablynippled smirking bestialities, at whose amorous activities even Olympians were wont to say

But we journeyed on to the mountain of Sinai. There, at its foot, we stood silently, during the space of a night

But we journeyed on to the court of the gods of Khem. And Mother Isis being amazed to greet one of her

priests and a master of masters of magic in one who had risen to the rank of a hero and immortal of Olympos,

of her own free will released me from the oath which I swore to her before Amenemhat the priest of Tanis:

for (as she said) it seemed that the Supreme had dispositions regarding me otherwhere. And Ptah the Pain

lessener explained why he neglected my torments in the ordeal of the scorching staff: saying that there was a

law in Khem, made by Ra himself, which ordained that no alleviation of pain should be due to a mage who,

willingly, should accept the ordeals of wisdom's way. To whom I answered wilily (reserving a private

opinion of my own); and I said that the laws of the master were good in the eyes of the servant, and that this

law was particularly to be praised: for, had I been rendered able to hold the scorching staff, I should not have

fallen backward through the rolling wheels of time, regaining Golden Helen, the Treasure of Hades, nor

Love, the Crown of all Wisdom. Which answer was greatly admired. And so, for a little space, we dwelled

with the wellmannered gods of Khem, amid the groves and fountains of Duat, hunting with holy cats and

kittens by night on the banks of the Nile, and by day among the dark hills of Amentet. Moreover, having

withdrawn our shapes from the gaze of mortals, we visited the temple at Tanis, where, formerly, I had done

many wily deeds. But my friend Amenemhat had submitted himself to white Death; and I saw his form at

Philai, conveniently mummied in the manner which I myself had invented. For the eyes of immortals, peers

of Pan, obey their particular desires, seeing (at will) through stone or wood or any other substance, excepting

the substances whose names and virtues and properties are known only to masters who have the proper spells

for using them. But I obtained as a sweet guest gift from the gods of Khem, that they would clear kindly

with dead Amenemhat (till I myself could provide for him), lightening his dreary lot in tedious Amentet as

with frequent cups of cream. And, I must not omit to mention that, while we were still over Egypt, Queen

Helen would have me go with her one day to Nilemouth: for, having once innocently slain me there, with the

kiss of an immortal goddess given in honourable love to a mortal man, the gentle mind in her fragrant breast

persuaded me that she owed me an amend. And there, indeed, having openly kissed me on the lips, she hid

her rosered face on mine while she whispered a secret joy. For I lived again in another.

But we journeyed on to find the court of the gods of the sea girt island, the kingdom of Victory queen of the

stalwart stately Anglicans. And, at length, we found, indeed, the seagirt island: but there were no Anglicans,

nor venerable Victory the queen, nor any gods at all. Instead, we saw the place to be infested with a rabble of

pygmies, some blackhairy, others sandyhairy, all cannibals, obscenely naked, painted blue, inarticulately

howling, whose hagtoothed breastless females mutilated their innumerable slain abominably. Moreover,

they were worshipping very bad devils, dwarves, giants, furies, hobgoblins, and other dubious monsters, with

hekatombs of idiot boys and girls, bandylegged, hairy, knockkneed, stunted, scraggy, whose throats they

tore with sharp stones, stretching them out stark on cyclopean boulders, or else with twisted ozier baskets of

human shape, fifty cubits high, which they stuffed full of babies and enemies, burning them alive with fire, to

the music of screeching. From which horrors we flew away with Love, having laid hideous inchantments on

But we journeyed on to the court of the gods of Scandinavia. For I was very desirous of seeing Baldur the

Beautiful, and of lifting the hammer of their Thor; and my desire was not ungratified. Baldur, indeed, was a

comely youth in a crude gaunt boned pinkfleshy way, such as I have seen a many of among the Argives:

but he could not be named with Hermes of the golden wand, or with any of the olympian immortals, lacking

the effulgent limpidity and transcendent agility of mind without which a fair body and sprightly limbs are

merely dull and devoid of spiritual quality. And, as for the socalled ponderous hammer of Thor, it was as a

feather in the wily knackknowing hands of the man who had burst the fetters of Hades. But the other gods

and goddesses of Scandinavia offered us a disgusting banquet of fishes and bones of beeves halfcharred,

halfraw, whereon they themselves browsed, gnawing interminably, and washing down the gobbets with

bucketfuls of fiery potions, wherewith (anon) they drowned themselves in drunkenness, stertorously dropping

on sleep in the slime where they fell. For which cause we left them while the night was dark.

But we journeyed on to the court of the gods of Rome, where Great Zeys maintained Nestor of Gerenia, lord

of chariots, that very wise and ancient hero, as his embassador. And, in the vast palace of Capitoline Juppiter

was the abode of the Olympian embassage, where, for a time, I dwelled with Queen Helen, being Nestor's

guests. But it seemed that nothing could stay the division of counsels among the immortals any longer. For

the Latin gods, implacable, boundless in audacity, persisted in claiming the sacrifices of all pious persons

who dwell on the wide bosomed earth: nor would they listen to most interesting conversations, being tribeless

lawless homeless fanulloni, disguised in the shape of their betters, having not the most rudimentary notion of

the difference between meum and tuum, and loving nothing better than strife. And day by day they inflated

themselves to bursting with overweening fury, desiring to obtain a monopoly, spurning the just and moderate

claim for supremacy by prescriptive right made by Olympian Zeys. Yet knightly Nestor, pleasant of speech,

the clearvoiced orator of the Pylians, from whose tongue flowed discourses more sweet than honey, bravely

strove to find some ground of agreement. For he still hoped that his conversations would avert war.

And, being over Rome, it seemed to me fitting that I should pass certain words with that blameless senator

whom I once had seen at Tanis. Him, indeed, I found (by certain simple magic) to be called Gajus Gargilius

Gnipho; and to him I addressed myself without delay, entering his palace on a moonbeam, at midnight,

radiant in my silver splendour, in stature and in aspect very much more than mortal. For the fellow had

comported himself rather too superciliously, when he saw me as a stranger in the land of Khem and not very

flourishing of appearance. But, when he saw me in Rome, he fell flat before me, quaking with terror,

babbling obsequious deprecations with a rusthot tongue. But I, having twitted him with his former blindness

to my divinity, so severely that he wished himself unborn, gave him sundry comfortable words: whereat, of

his own free will, he vowed a blooming shrine to me at his villa near Caere, with a flamen and two casmilli of

free birth, and a weekly sacrifice of two white seagulls and a crab, as long as the world should endure men.

And, by chance, one day, it happened that, when I returned from going to and fro, alone and unseen, among

mortals in the city, hearing the speech of men, on entering the palace I found old Nestor lying stunned in my

antechamber. And, instantly, terrible Fear invaded the mind in my breast on account of Golden Helen.

But, rushing forward, inflaming myself by the way, I found her in her chamber, gagged with a silken cincture,

and struggling in the arms of truculent Mars. Him, indeed, I dragged about the room, as one drags an

impatient bullock from the altar before his bloody turn, twisting him; and I dashed the blameless god to the

floor with notinnocuous concussion. But, having released my faithful wife, I bade her to go to Nestor in his

need, and to heal his ill: for she herself was unharmed, excepting for certain bruises of her lilylike skin which

she took from the grip of the ruffian. And, for these, I made him pay a just price. First, indeed, he rose from

the floor, black in the face with rage. But I cursed him thereto in good and concise Latin, while he stood all

amazed, being too stupid to think of me as aught but an Olympian speaking the limpid language of gods and

Argives. And I rejoiced in my lordly mind, at my faculty of venomouslyscathing invective, when I saw how

I could exasperate him with my tongue. For the language of immortals is voluble, and the discourses in it are

numerous and varied; and vast is the distribution of words here and there. Moreover, whatsoever word one

shall speak, such also shall one hear; and, whatsoever deed one shall do to another shall be repeated with

interest upon oneself. But, when my lickerish swashbuckler had winced sufficiently, we took to our swords.

Now Mars was a wargod whose habit was to supervise slaughter from his cloudy citadel, descending to

massacre fugitives, and to glut himself with human gore: but he personally was no more than a slow and

clumsy warrior, able (certainly) to overcome mortals by sheer weight, but no match whatever for an immortal

hero skilled in wiles and expert in all the arts of war. Wherefore, having dug him well in head and foot, I

began to beat him, abominably bruising his paps. But he bellowed with pain; and fought wildly, exposing his

tender places so that I carved him at my pleasure. And, when, hacked to shreds, he was ready to fall apart, he

took a great toss from me, hideous in immensity, being pitched from the window of the palace into the city

beneath. But his atoms fell sprawling in the forecourt of his own temple crushing the Flamen Martialis as flat

as a corncake. But the Romans took it for a portent; and were filled with forebodings of evil.

Then, Queen Helen begged me to bear her away from the sullen court of the blameless Latin divinities,

returning to the peak of Olympos, where the starcrowned Twins would guard her honour during my

absence, if absent I was obliged to be. Even wise old Nestor agreed that conversations must end here, and war

But, first, I demanded audience of Juppiter Stator (the most righteous of gods): whom I told of the crime of

his son, and the penalty paid, demanding also the usual compensations. Whereat the blooming pretender was

very angry, and made a menacing pass at me with his thunder. But, him, indeed, I mocked most shockingly,

flinging at his feet a bunch of fat fingers hewed off blameless Mars, and giving him warning, on the part of

all the immortals of Olympos, to prepare for war. But he, too late, cowered, and was for offering satisfaction,

saying that he would make an agreement concerning the heavenly dispute, desiring not the enmity but the

Whom I superbly answered, saying: "Talk now no more of agreements, O thriceandfourtimes accused

pretender and new god. For, as there are not faithful leagues between lions and men, neither have lambs and

wolves an according mind, but ever meditate evils each against other, so it is impossible for us and you to

contract a friendship. Long, indeed, have we striven to treat your pretensions leniently, in accordance with

reason: but ye have presumed on our forbearance, mistaking our gentleness for weakness, and crowning your

bloody folly with a crime, an outrage wrought by a dastard on a daughter and on an embassador of the king of

gods and men. But now it is time to make an end of you. And I go forthwith to lofty Olympos, to rally against

Thus I spoke; and having by magic called my silvershining chariot, I led to it Queen Helen, and Nestor the

Argive, who was not to be left to the mercy of Juppiter Stator; and, when they had mounted to their places, I

placed on the floor the sword of atrocious Mars, intending to take it as a trophy and a perpetual memorial.

But I, also, was about to ascend beside them, when there came heavily prancing certain blameless divine

ones, squalid of demeanour and agitated of aspect, offering gifts on the part of the Capitoline god, and

begging for a little respite. And I, having relieved my blooming mind by speaking fierce opinions to them,

and being not at all times implacable but rather inclined to urbanity, actually did delay for an instant,

revolving the whole matter in my mind, and waiting to hear what might be proposed. But, even while I tarried

thus, my godly eyes clearly saw revengeful Bellona, sister and pander of Mars, beginning to harness the

Then, indeed, I turned upon thievish Mercury the messenger, an apelike imitator of my wingfooted

grandsire, saying: "Return, O messenger, to Capitoline Juppiter, to whom do thou tell all things openly as I

charge thee: so that all the gods of all the widerolling heavens also may be indignant, even if he (clad in

impudence) still dares to deceive any of the immortals. Let him not (doglike as he is and not godlike) ever

hope to look in my face again as an equal. I neither will join in counsel nor in action with him: for having

already offended me, now he will try to deceive me. He shall not again overreach me with lying words.

Enough for him once to do so. But let him perish in quiet: for Great Zeys, no doubt, has deprived him of

Thus I spoke: but my heart and noble mind were delighted in my breast. And, having ascended my

silvershining chariot, Queen Helen pulled the chain; and faithful Love flew away with us as swiftly as a bird

or a thought. But my great black bow began to sing very gloriously of war, as we left the Super Capitol,

making bright the eyes, hardening the body, and kindling flames within the mind: for fiercehearted Bellona

pursued us, over the breadth of Apulia to the unvintaged sea. But being loathe to fight with a bloody female

and (moreover) a blameless Latin one armed with a bow which to mine was but as a toy, I loosed my

deathbringing shafts backward against the hackles of her blooming warhounds, throwing them into

In this manner I did deeds, wily, and also audacious, visiting the courts of strange gods who bear rule over

King Zeys, armed with black clouds and white thunder, sat throned in the areiopagos of the immortals,

collecting his forces, assigning commands and stations. For, as when some hairy barbarian (devoid of reason)

was wont to prance minaciously in the vicinity of the flowinghaired ingenuous Akhaians, or as when some

city (jealous, or whatnot) warred against its neighbour or some bumptious young colony against its staid and

respectable mothercity, all the other Argives were wont to mingle themselves hilariously together against

the foe, so, also, when the Olympian gods are menaced, each one (from the highest to the lowest) and

But King Zeys, whose joy is in the thunder, bade golden wanded Hermes to summon from the house of

shady Hades the shades of innumerable heroes who had not attained immortality; and these were as

unnumbered as are leaves and flowers in their season: nor could I number them, did not the Muses, daughters

of Zeys of the dark and holy Aigis, put into my mind the names of some who came at call to lofty Olympos.

For, when the Olympians go forth to war, then the shades of heroes are called from the netherworld, and are

endowed with bodies. But, if they stolidly permit themselves to be slaughtered in battle, they lose an

opportunity of attaining immortality and return as shades to the house of Hades for at least another hundred

years. Such, indeed, is the law. But I remember that these were called from the netherworld, to wit,

yellowhaired fleetfooted Akhilleys, and daring Patroklos his dear comrade, and redhaired Neoptolemos

his son as brave as his father, and horsetaming Diomedes, and Phoinix dear to Zeys, and blameless

Telamonian Aias the Great, and Lokrian Aias the Little, and greathearted Iphitos, and Abantian Elephenor

breathing fury (whose hair flowed behind), and highhearted Erekhtheys, and godly Eyryalos, and

Agamemnon shepherd of the people, and warlike Agapenor, and stalwart Diores, and pious Polyxeinos, and

Meges peer of Ares, and largesouled Oineys, and goldhaired Meleagros, and Idomeneys the famous

spearman fierce as flame, and Meriones peer of the manslaying wargod, and goodly tall Tlepolemos the

Rhodian son of Herakles, and Philoktetes the cunning archer, and glorious Eyrypylos, and unflinching

Polypoites, and fleet Prothoos, and sage Antenor, and highstepping Pandaros, and fluent Talthybios the

herald, and comely Sthenelos, and the lusty cheerful stripling Simoeisios, and wellgreaved Tydeys, and

noble Hypsenor, and glancingeyed Diokles, and innocent Pylaimenes, and Mydon the squire, and that

nymphborn shepherd Boykolion, and haughty Bellerophon. And these, being summoned, gathered with

And, as the many tribes of wellplumed birds, wild geese, or swans or longnecked cranes, or even blooming

bustards, on the Asian meadow by River Kaystros, fly hither and thither enjoying their plumage, and (with

loud cries) settle ever onward, and the meadow resounds, so poured forth the many tribes of warriors, with

Theseys the most righteous of men, from the house of Hades; and they joined with the immortal heroes,

lionhearted Herakles, and my own cousin Perseys of the sea (the most renowned of heroes), and Kastor the

tamer of horses, and Polydeykes the pugilist, and magnanimous Iason with his nine andforty generous

marine Argonayts, and with others quite innumerable whose names I have not written for a religious reason:

Then came forth from their wellbuilt golden palaces, Ares the lordly stormer of battlements, and Phoibos

Apollon lord of the silver bow, and his chaste sister Artemis the Archer wearing the moon. And brighteyed

Pallas Athene cast off her rainbowhued garments which she herself had woven; and did on her armour for

battle. And, about her shoulders, she put the terrible Aigis, which knows neither age nor death, whereon wave

a hundred taslets of pure gold, all deftly twisted, and each worth a hundred oxen: whereon, also, is Panic as a

crown round about, and Strife, and Valour, and horrible Onslaught withal; and thereon, also, is the grisly

snakehaired head of Medoysa the Gorgon, a portent dreadful and grim. And upon her virginal head, she set

the twocrested golden casque of fourfold plates bedecked with the menatarms of a hundred cities. And

she brandished the great stout spear, wherewith she vanquishes and demolishes all with whom her immortal

sire is wrath. But Hephaistos, the glorious lame god, sweated in toil, busy about the bellows and the anvil in

his house of bronze, imperishable, starlike, farseen among the abodes of the immortals: for he was forging

And, anon, came running the Hora Dike, warden of the cloudy gate, bringing news that the Latins were

But, instantly, we were pouring out, like wasps who dwell by the roadside: whom silly boys are wont to

irritate, incessantly harassing creatures possessing cells by the wayside, and causing a common evil to many.

And, as when thick snowflakes flutter down, born in the �ther and chilled by the blasts of Boreas, so, thickly

streamed forth brightlyglittering helms and bossy shields, with strongplated corslets and nastilypointed

spears. And the sheen thereof filled the heavens near; and the world underneath winked at the flashing of gold

and silver and at the noise of the trampling; and our teeth gnashed together; and our eyes blazed like so many

But wingfooted Hermes and windborne Iris flew, like unseen arrows, the one to azurehaired Poseidon

lord of the ocean, the other to blameless Hades lord of the netherworld, always collecting reinforcements.

And gallant young Love, ruddy, naked and invulnerable, rushed with me into the mellay. For no shafts are

And the warchariot of King Zeys the Scarer thundered, awfully rolling along by the polished colonnades of

palaces, bearing the father and king of gods and men to the forefront of the fray.

But King Quirinus was leading the heroes of the Latins, all blameless of course, with Aulus master of knights

on the left and Furius on the right, with Herminius in the rear. Turnus served under King Quirinus, with

Mamilius prince of the Latian name. Under Aulus, served Metius of Anxur and Astur lord of Luna. Under

Furius, served showy Curtius, the forlorn hope. These were all the most righteous of heroes. But the Latin

gods preferred to look on, sullen, from the rear, in what they fondly deemed to be security.

THEN the Father and King of gods and men thundered appallingly from above, and, from beneath, the

seaking Poseidon set the vast earth shaking, even to the tops of her blooming mountains. And the brazen

voice of impetuous Ares resounded through the press of battle; and bravelysteadfast Herakles strewed the

Latin heroes in swathes, sweeping his club here and there, shattering shins, causing the marrow to spurt from

spines, so that knees became loosened; and sweet Death in a white cloud enveloped them while life left their

bones. But the lord and lady of the silver bows rained down their hot arrows, which hissed into wet

eyesockets, forcingin the pupils, and going forward into the backs of the heads: so that many heroes sat

down without warning or thrones, stretching out both their hands for nothing. And blissful Pallas Athene

smote many, with her spear, where a puncture is particularly painful: so that they panted, spinning round and

round upon the point like cockchafers, writhing, holding their interiors in their hands, until white Death

But I, on the battlements, saw naught but brave Horatius, heard naught save his personal challenge to me, felt

naught save the blows which he delivered to my address, touched naught save him, smelt naught save his

delicious blood and sweat mingling with ichor of the immortals. For I drove my bloody spear into his shield;

and pinned it to his arm. But his spear tore away my silver helmet crested with the prides of nine white

peacocks. Then, indeed, I leaped upon him with my sword, protecting my head with my fluttering targe. Nor

did he abide my onslaught: but he retired pace by pace; and a shower of sparks burst out of his armour as I

shattered it bit by bit. But, perceiving that he was on the very verge of the wall, I hustled him so horribly with

my great glittering shield, that, stepping back, he fell for nineteen days, reaching the bountiful earth at length

in the form of a thin red rain. But I recovered my silver helmet, running sidewise at Furius, who was pressing

the redhaired boy Neoptolemos son of implacable Akhilleys; and him, too, we hustled from the summit of

the wall. But the stripling laughed; and he fought beside me, fighting as I did, shoving with very weighty

But Pallas Athene of the terrible Aigis came whirling along the open way in her warchariot, shouting aloud

and frightfully in the Orthian strain. And scores of the blameless Latins she squashed to pulp, or hurled from

the height. But then, indeed, when one might have begun to think about victory, suddenly I heard the voice of

Queen Helen calling me by name. To whom I revolved like a flash of white thunder.

But the divine one of goddesses was flying toward me in the pleasurechariot of whitearmed Hera the

queen, woven of golden thongs plaited tightly, with pole and wheels and yoke and harness of gold. And

peacocks drew it, flying on large wings coloured of cinnamon and ebony, with quivering crests and necks of

shining blue, and waving golden prides which gleamed each with a hundred purple eyes. She cried to me as

she came: for a faithful wife (being troubled) thinks that no one but her dear husband can relieve her. And she

said that constant Regulus, and Scipio the African, and Gajus Martius of Corioli, were attacking on the north,

having scaled the wall: whom Queen Hera and the goddesses were withstanding, as best they might, with

golden tiles and pavingstones and jars and bowls and stairs, hurled from the blooming towers.

And I heard the saying of Queen Helen, with those who fought near me; and, instantly, we ran roaring to

repel the invaders. And yellowhaired Akhilleys the bravest of heroes ran with me, and redhaired

Neoptolemos his son, and Idomeneys strong as flame, and Diomedes of the loud warcry, and magnanimous

Iason, and glancingeyed Diokles, and goldenhaired Meleagros, and my own cousin Perseys of the sea (the

most renowned of heroes), nine in all. But we, ravening with fury, fell upon the Latins; and I myself engaged

Titus son of Tarquinius, a gallant enough hero, who (after some striving) took a toss from me into the sea, the

abode of fishes, where eels might eat him, nibbling the white fat round his kidneys. But only implacable

Akhilleys remained alive beside me, having his breath upon the height of Olympos, with glancingeyed

Diokles who became my sweet friend, and also Perseys the immortal hero. And all the might of the Latins

was surging round to the north wall; and Titus Manlius of the golden collar was leading them. But we three

Then leapedup in her might Strife the rouser of hosts. Then Pallas Athene sent forth a cry. And Ares

shouted, terrible as the blackness of storms. Then came Artemis of the silver arrows and the echoing chase,

and Phoibos Apollon darting afar. Then the Father and King of gods and men came lamping and toning

And shady Hades, lord of the netherworld, leaped from his black throne, bursting his bandages, in terror lest

the earth should again be riven by King Poseidon irascibly rolling great billows about: so loud was the din

made by us immortals. And, at King Zeys' behest, King Hades gave up a new host of heroes to Hermes the

Helper, Lysander and Leonidas those dirtyknuckled Lakonians, and Alkibiades and Nikias the Athenians,

and Makedonian Alexandros, and lacerated Prometheys, and thirsty Tantalos, and wise Telemakhos my son

and prudent Penelope's, and unknowing Telegonos my son and Kirke's of the awful braided tresses, and

Teykros the bowman, and belted Orion, and gigantic Tityros, and even the blameless Dardanian heroes of

Ilion to fight for the gods of lofty Olympos, to wit, Hektor of the glancing helm, and pious runaway Aineias,

and Amphios of the linen corslet, and Asios prince of men, and Hippothoos skilled with the spear, and

welllegged Phorkys, and uncouth Nastes, and Sarpedon counsellor of the Lykians, and noble Glaykos, and

naked Lykaon, and equalhanded Asteropaios, and Polydoros the rumbler, all the most righteous of heroes,

And now the heavens were filled with gods and heroes, and ablaze with arms; and the earth below rang with

the noise of the feet of them, as they rushed together for the fray. For we, the Olympians, lilac ravening lions,

were leaping out, fulfilling the will of loudthundering Zeys ordaining a backward chase of the Latins. They,

indeed, of necessity were compelled to give way; and many fair brands, darkscabbarded and dark hilted,

fell to the earth, some from the hands and some with the severed hands of warriors, so that the black earth

But, scattering, the Latins broke, and fled in confusion, driven in utter rout; and hero called after hero to

engage in single combat, slaying each his own. And, wherever the king of gods and men saw them thickest in

flight, thither did he guide his blooming chariot with resounding cries; and, under his axletrees, the Latins

fell prone and were ground up, till not one remained in life: but they were pushed into the land of the shades.

And, even as tempests oppress the black earth in autumn, when Zeys pours forth rain most vehemently, being

wrath against men who judge crooked judgments forcibly and drive justice out: so, mightily, then, we

followed the blameless gods of the Romans; and they fled as men flee before lions and bloody unicorns. For

Panic and Terror and terrible Fear bounded behind them yelling hideously: so that they fled, over the

mountains of Makedonia, and woody Epiros, and the Ionian Sea, and also over Apulia, never staying, till (at

length) they cowered above the Capitol of Rome, expecting the doom of the vanquished.

And, when the twelve great gods were standing round, in their wellcarved lofty warchariots, the Latin gods

crouched, miserable, whimpering, chained, in the midst before them. And it was openly manifest that they,

presumptuous ones, overweening in arrogance, had the audacity to shape themselves (as far as they were

able) after the manner of the divine ones who inhabit olympian palaces: as the barbarians, Egyptians, or

Sikels, or Thrakians, or Bithynians, whom the Argives take for slaves, mimic the manners of their masters,

clumsily counterfeiting their aspect. Yet, as the Argives are mortal and so are the barbarians, being alike in

that respect but not in anything else, in the same way both the Olympian and the Latin gods were immortal,

agreeing in no other similitude. But all the company of heaven marvelled exceedingly, and none knew the

But the Father and King of gods and men, whose joy is in the thunder, spoke, saying: "Hearken to me, O all

gods and all ye blooming goddesses, hearing that which my mind within my breast commandeth me. And one

thing let none assay, be it goddess or be it god, to thwart my opinion: but approve it, ye, unanimously, that I

may quickly accomplish it. For ye know how far I am made the mightiest of all gods. Go to, now, ye gods,

make trial that ye may know. Fasten ye a golden rope from heaven; and all ye gods lay hold thereof and all

goddesses: yet could ye not drag me from heaven to earth, even Zeys, the counsellor of The Supreme, not

though ye toiled sorely. But, an I were minded to drag it, then I should draw you up, with the blooming earth

and the sea withal: by so much more am I beyond gods, and beyond men, and all the rest of it."

Thus he spoke: but we all kept silence and were still, marvelling at his saying, for he spoke very masterfully.

But, at last, the brighteyed goddess Pallas Athene said: "O our father Zeys, well we know (even we) that thy

might is unyielding. Yet we have piety for these thy prisoners, fools, who now shall perish and fulfil an evil

Then Zeys the Cloudgatherer smiled at her, saying: "Be of good comfort, dear child: for I am not minded to

be unkindly. But, hearken, O all gods and all ye goddesses; and see the justice of Zeys. For these cringing

immortals (from what part of the heavens they come, I know not), having taken shapes similar to ours on

some false pretences, audacious ones, have not been content with the worship of their Romans, but, bursting

with arrogance, they have presumed to claim also the worship of the rollingeyed Argives. Long, indeed,

have I been patient with them, with fair words and deeds: but they have ventured to bring war to lofty

Olympos. Witless that they are, to be wrath in their folly against Zeys, who (sitting all by himself) careth not,

nor taketh any thought about them: for I deem that I, among immortal gods, am manifestly preeminent in

power and might etcetera. Wherefore, let them content themselves with whatsoever sorrows I shall send on

But fierce impetuous Ares stood high in his warchariot, whereto were yoked his horses Fear and Dread; and

he slapped his strong thighs with his hands flatwise, saying: "O lord of the lightning and the dark cloud, smite

But, when they heard this awful word, the Latin gods leaped up to touch the beard and the knees of Zeys,

crying aloud in a panicterror as they bobbed up and down, saying: "We supplicate thee by thy beard, and by

thy knees, and by thy parents, to take good store of gold and korinthic bronze (which is platinum and better

But, unto them, the Father and King of gods and men, with grimmer gaze, responded, saying: "Dogs, dogs,

supplicate me not by beard or knees or parents: for neither a tenfold nor a twentyfold ransom can make

amends for rebellion. Nevertheless, seeing that ye be immortal, even as are also we others, white Death may

not come anigh you. But let us hear muchcontriving Odysseys, the Peer of Zeys in counsel: for perchance he

Then, indeed, I stood up before all the blooming company of heaven, in my silvershining chariot inlaid with

crabs and moons in motherofpearl, but Love was my charioteer; and thus I said: "Immortality to

And all the gods and goddesses (bestowers of good things) stood in their own warchariots; and

inextinguishable laughter arose among the blessed gods, when they heard my wily words.

But great Zeys said: "It pleaseth us; and, so, of our own free will, we command that it shall be done."

And, immediately, all the gods and goddesses of Olympos leaped upon all the blameless gods and goddesses

of Rome, Zeys upon Juppiter, and Hera upon Juno, Helios Hyperion upon Sol, and Selene upon Luna,

Phoibos Apollon upon Apollo, and Artemis upon Diana, Ares upon Mars, and Iakkhos Dionysos upon

Bacchus, Eros upon Cupid, and Aphrodite upon Venus, Hermes upon Mercury, and Pallas Athene upon

Minerva, Demeter upon Ceres, and Hephaistos upon Vulcan, Hades upon Pluto, and Persephone upon

Proserpina, Kastor and Polydeykes upon Castor and Pollux, Herakles upon Hercules, and Poseidon upon

Neptune, and innumerable others upon others innumerable, pouncing upon them, like falcons biting the

bloody brains of baser birds, buzzards, and such, sucking out their immortality.

And the forms of the Latin gods, like flies in the webs of assiduous spiders, lifeless, and very void, fell back,

dropping from heaven to earth; and the speed of their falling ground them to powder, so that they became as

red dust, and a most awful portent for their Romans on whom they fell. For, by chance, at this same time, the

Romans were perturbed by a political crisis, connected with that Gajus Julius Caesar, a king of men and a

shepherd of the people. For, when they saw fierce fiery warriors fighting on the clouds, in ranks and

squadrons and right forms of war, which drizzled blood of heroes on the Capitol, and, when they heard the

neighing of horses and the groans of ghosts of heroes, slain, shrieking, squealing, going to the land of shades,

then, indeed, blind madness entered into them; and they slew their precious Caesar. Thus, the heavens

But the immortal gods, more amply immortal than ever (if that were possible), returned to their dear

motherland bearing the spoils of victory; and the divine ones inhabiting olympian palaces began to receive

BUT King Zeys lavished rich rewards, dividing the Roman territories among gods and heroes, giving temples

to some and altars to others, to say nothing of blank walls eligible for immortal effigies. But, because I was

by no means anxious to have assigned to me the worship of mortal men (for, having been myself a man more

than once, I know something about the value of men's worship; and I care as little for suitors who adulate as

for enemies who feel bound to propitiate), then, the Father and King of gods and men deigned to give me a

wish, confirming the same with his nod, which is the surest pledge among the immortals. And I said that I

would treasure this wish in my heart, so that I might use it on occasion: for I desired, at that moment, nothing

Living in peace and love, thus, we entertained ourselves with hunting bears, dragons, and urchins, on the long

slopes of lofty Olympos, or with delicate banquets in the halls of various gods. I, also, went frequently to and

fro among mortal men, generally invisibly, amusing myself with their affairs. Also, I was wont to disport

myself in my wellbenched galley, a wonder to be seen, being drawn by Love over the greygreen sea at my

will. For Hermes my grandsire, and bravely steadfast Herakles, and my own cousin Perseys of the sea (the

most renowned of heroes), used to accompany me in my jaunts; and, when these immortals saw my faithful

slaves Neandros and Thalos, being cognizant of their fidelity and their fearlessness, and, also, having

observed the ingenious mind and the stalwart form of Neandros and the luminous innocence of Thalos, then,

indeed, they shewed them signal favours, putting into their minds a knowledge of many secrets which the

gods and heroes find useful at times. Nor were the slaves afraid to have to do with these divine ones, having

already braved the terrors of the netherworld with me, than which there is nothing more terrible, excepting a

really horrid woman. But, because I (by magic art) had bound their lives to mine, and, because Great Zeys, in

reward of my endurance and my wiles, had indued me with immortality, so Neandros and Thalos, being

immortal as well (though they were neither gods nor heroes, but only the most comely and most faithful and

most clever of slaves), became habituated to mingle themselves as conveniently with immortals as with

But, after a few moons, when I from time to time returned to lofty Olympos, it seemed to me that Queen

Helen was less cheerful than heretofore. And, when, one day, I found her sitting alone in her close chamber,

weaving a white and silver shirt for me to wear at banquets, and the lids of her amber eyes were reddened as

though with weeping, then, indeed, I required her to declare to her dear husband the cause of her grief. But

she laid her head on my breast, letting fall a round tear: nor did she hide aught from me.

For, the longsmouldering jealousy of blameless Queen Aphrodite (the lady of the dogstar) had been

breaking forth; and she was quite unable to remember good manners in the presence of Queen Helen. But it

was plain to us all, that, as Queen Helen was far lovelier than she, Queen Aphrodite was no longer the

goddess of beauty, though she still was the goddess of certain kinds of love. Yet, even on the last count, she

complained, being shockingly jealous and upset. For she was aggrieved because ruddy young Love gave her

little of his blooming company, having bound himself (with a silver chain) in service to me and to Queen

Helen, flying here and there through air and sky for our exclusive diversion, neglecting her (his mamma) and

other divine ones inhabiting olympian palaces. Which, indeed, was not altogether untrue: though hitherto we

Furthermore, whitearmed Queen Hera (the most righteous of goddesses), had been speaking unpleasant

words. For that prim matron, being jealous also, because King Zeys the Swan had procreated Golden Helen

and her Great Twin Brothers out of matrimony, was wont to sneeze more or less covertly, giggling, flinging

the names of victorious Theseys and sandyhaired impotent old Menelaos and womanmad Paris at my

And all this was a very dreadful thing for a chaste and loving wife to bear. For, though brighteyed Pallas

Athene, and silvan Artemis (that wise athletic maiden), and fruitful Demeter and powerful Persephone (those

noble matrons), and fairankled Hebe, and Iris of the rainbow, and all the other lady goddesses, being

wellbred as well as wellborn, behaved themselves to Queen Helen as to an equal, peerless in beauty and

admirable for her faithful love, nevertheless, the unconcealed jealousy of the two flawed the fair apricock of

her perfect joy. And, moreover, it must not be denied that the plague of Queen Aphrodite and the spleen of

Queen Hera (both quite blameless) was, or would be, a cause of wrath, and secret stirring up of strife, and

wordy bickering, and malice, and hinted lies, and curious reservations, and careful slightings, which would

set all heaven by its blooming ears. And that is what no honest goddess can endure with a calm and holy

Now, because of my unalloyed happiness, and because of my lighthearted absences, I had been ignorant of

all these matters. But, when I understood them, having reproached myself sufficiently on account of my

selfishness, then, indeed, divine Fury inflamed the mind in my noble breast with desire of bloody

headcuttings and eyediggings and revenges and slaughters and maimings and stonings and

Then I began to bethink me of most shocking things, to wit, of certain cunning wiles whereby those two

blameless goddesses might be made laughingstocks, ridiculous among the divine ones who have never lost

their faces. For I remembered that this would not be very difficult, for, once upon a time, Great Zeys himself

had occasion to dangle whitearmed Hera (the most righteous of goddesses) between heaven and earth for

several months, having fastened anvils to her fat ankles, because she was excessively offensive. And even

Hephaistos of the strong arm once caught blameless Aphrodite, his wife, diverting herself gaily with Ares;

and he cast a magic web about them so that all the gods and goddesses might go and gibe at them at pleasure.

And, indeed, it would not be difficult for anyone to make Queen Aphrodite look absurd: as most of the gods

But Queen Helen was averse from all unkindness, and, as aforetime, when persecuted, she begged me to take

her away from the netherworld, and from Khalkis, and likewise from Rome, so now, indeed, she implored me

to take her away from the height of Olympos, going (she said) peacefully, to seek some distant little kingdom

on the widebosomed earth, where we (divine ones and immortal), having ourselves endured unmentioned

and unthoughtof pains, and possessing the secret wisdom of the gods, might live in peace and love with

Now it happened, by chance, that (in my wanderings to and fro) I had never been altogether unmindful of the

prediction of Belmarduk the god of Assyria, which he made to me when I dreamed in my barge in Egypt.

And, once, when I was flying in my Lovedrawn chariot, over the Aigaian Sea, and over Asia and Galatia

and Kappadokia and Armenia, I espied the fair little realm of Moxoene, where mountains and pine and oak

forests were set round and about the salt Thospitian Sea; and the folk of the place were singularly comely,

and intelligent and brave, having also ingenious and reverend minds: but they seemed to be as sheep without

Wherefore, I determined that the time had come for obeying the decrees of The Supreme, fulfilling the

prediction of Belmarduk the god, and the sixth prediction which Thalos my innocent slave read in the

palmmirror. Moreover, I remembered the wish which Great Zeys had confirmed to me.

For which causes, then, I gave a great and splendid banquet to the immortals; and, when we taken away the

desire of eating and drinking (for I provided very exquisite odours of unmentioned and unthoughtof

fragrance), then, I stood up on my throne before them all; and my lordly spirit thus addressed Great Zeys,

saying: "O Father and King of gods and men, let it not be imputed to me for an evil word when I ask that the

drink offering may be poured, and that I may go upon my way. For I am a little tired. For it seems that there

is jealousy among the immortal goddesses because of the superior beauty of Golden Helen, to whom

whitearmed Hera and Aphrodite (lady of the dogstar) have spoken unwinged words. And they also

complain because tameless Eros, the oldest and youngest of all gods, bath willingly tamed himself so far and

for this occasion only to go before me and before Queen Helen in the way. For which cause, then, this is my

wish, which thou already hast confirmed to me by thine irrevocable nod. I wish to go away at once, and in

peace, from this blooming peak of Olympos, with Queen Helen my unsullied wife, and with my gear, that we

may live once more among earthtrampling men, among whom we shall not be the least, seeing that we are

immortal and have the secret wisdom of the gods. And I have found the kingdom of Moxoene by the

Thospitian Sea, where I wish to dwell. Nosh then, send me on my way, giving me good fortune that I may

take my noble wife to the beautiful home which I shall make for her. But ye, blessed gods, be pleased to

abide here, all of you, making glad your own blooming wives and children, and enjoying all sorts of delicious

Thus I spoke. And my heart and lordly mind were exultant in my breast. For immense confusion and hubbub

arose among the immortal gods; and the two jealous queens (the most righteous of goddesses), thoroughly

exasperated by the wily and audacious mildness of my contemptuous words, bridled and sniffed, tossing their

heads and beating their fat knees, glancing this way and that, madly, and saying that so many rash things had

But wingfooted Hermes, my grandsire, said: "Let him go where he will, this muchenduring

muchcontriving Odysseys who is surely Peer of Zeys in counsel, and Queen Helen who is indubitably the

loveliest of mortals or immortals: for my rede is that my child deserves to be satisfied. But I myself will

never be very far away from him in Moxoene; and, when ye gods by chance shall want a messenger, take

But bravelysteadfast Herakles said: "Let him go where he will, this hero Odysseys, and Queen Helen the

most faithful of wives: for they ought to have some happiness after so much ill. But I myself will be at their

But in like manner also spoke my own cousin Perseys of the sea, the most renowned of heroes. And all the

But Eros leaped up, blindfolded, naked, like a young and ruddy flame; and he said: "Oh, let them go where

they will. But thou, O Great Zeys, whom I not seldom have wounded, be ware that I will not desert such true

lovers as these. And, if thou keepest me here, thou wilt keep no more of me than my body. But I will make

me a nest in their hearts for ever and ever. For I know where I am a welcome guest, and where I am

unwelcome, and where I am treated simply as a blooming pastime with childish play, and where with due

Then, the Father and King of gods and men drew down his immortal eyebrows: for the matter was an

extremely grave one; and he gave judgment, saying: "Let us by any means secure a quiet life. And,

forasmuch as King Odysseys desireth to leave us peaceably, retiring to an earthly kingdom with his dear wife

and his proper paraphernalia, let him go to Moxoene thus. And let them have all health and comfort in their

going. It pleaseth us; and, so, of our own free will, we command that it shall be done."

Therefore, when Morning donned her saffron robes, and ascended from bathing in the streams of ocean, to

give light to immortals and mortals, then, all the divine ones (save the two blameless queens), having loaded

my chariot with sweet gifts, came gateward to speed us on our way. But Aphrodite the lady of the dogstar

(the most righteous of goddesses) pettishly called for her son, holding him between her knees for once, and

caressing his ruddy young neck, with malicious intent to prevent him from going with us.

For my gigantic silvershining chariot, inlaid with crabs and moons in motherofpearl, stood in the gateway

of lofty Olympos loaded with my gear. And, poised on the front of its rail, was the silver image of Love,

larger than life, blindfolded, naked, most alluringly proportioned, with his well winged arms spread abroad

in the very act of taking flight; and his reins were girded with the silver chain, of which the taslets dangled

behind down to the rail of the chariot. But, when Queen Helen saw that invidious hag detaining our charioteer

out of jealousy, then, she looked at me sadly, letting fall a round tear, not knowing how we should go. To

whom I spoke unwinged words, saying very firmly: "Mount, my child, nor be affrighted with any amazement

whatever: for dreadful among mortals and immortals is the wrath of a suppliant. And we, indeed, are the

Thus I spoke: but we two mounted in turn; and Queen Helen pulled the chain, having confidence in the

promise of the god. And, as she worked the magic inchantment, both our hearts glowed with undying fire.

And we saw young and ruddy Eros, clasped between his wretched mother's knees, become suddenly white

and rigid: but he himself came; and the silver image of Love lived, and was Love, bursting into ardent life,

and flying away with us, leaving no more than the wraith of Love with Aphrodite (most righteous of

Thus, then, I left the abodes of the immortals, coming to rule my kingdom of Moxoene on the graingiving

NOW the deeds which I have done and the wiles which I have wrought, in my kingdom of Moxoene, are on

this wise. And, seeing that they are both great and numerous, I will have them fairly written out by the hand

of Empedokles son of Polypemon, my scribe, on oneandtwenty new rolls of fine papyrus, and sealed with

On the first roll, it shall be written of my coming with Queen Helen to Moxoene, flying out of the open

heaven in my silvershining chariot, having a glorious sheen like the moon. And, when, the people saw us,

they received us with gladness and piety and exquisite sacrifices: for, though we scintillated with truly godly

splendour, and appeared to be of very much more than mortal stature, yet we were benign of aspect and not

terrible; and the tribes (also) of the country are not slavish or timid by nature, but brave and strong, and of an

On the second roll, it shall be written of the stablishing of my kingdom. For, when the news of my coming

went abroad, then, the chiefs of the fifteen tribes between the Great River and River Araxes and Media

Atropatene with Assyria and Mesopotamia came, of their own free will, to pay homage to me, swearing

faithful allegiance. And these were the fifteen princes of the fifteen tribes of Akilisene and Derxene and

Phasianene and Bagravandene and Dasranalene and Khorzianene and Balabitene and Astianene and Anzitene

and Sophene and Arzanene and Gordavanene and Arapakitene and Thositene and Moxoene.

On the third roll, it shall be written of the constitution of my kingdom as a limited theocracy: for I, the king,

and Helen, the queen, accept the obedience and the worship of the nation, as god and goddess of Moxoene,

for the present and in the absence of anything better. Here, also, it shall be written of the manner of the said

obedience and worship: of the language of Moxoene: of my kingly name Balthazar, and the signification of

On the fourth roll, it shall be written of the Sacred Lavation and of The Spell of The Three Who are One, a

most efficacious mighty magic inchantment, which, in the very beginning, I wrought upon the persons of all

and singular my subjects, in my Thospitian Sea, willhe nillhe: with the names and histories of the two of

On the fifth roll, it shall be written of the mysteries, which I study and cause to be studied by the few who are

worthy; and of the altar, of sunstone and moonstone, to Mithra, Unconquered Father of Fathers, which I set

up in my palace for myself and my own, whereat I myself minister as mysteriarch among my sons.

On the sixth roll, it shall be written of the fair children borne to me by Queen Helen, my beloved wife and

true: to wit, my darling Diyllos (superb and glancingeyed like my friend Diokles) born under the Moon and

the Crab, and my very dear son Nikolaos born under Hermes and The Virgin, and my twinson Haliastos and

my twindaughter Halianthe born under Oyranos and The Waterman; and of the Sacred Lavation and The

On the seventh roll, it shall be written of Queen Helen, my meet help and my heart's constant joy: of all the

deeds which she (the divine one of goddesses) has done for the women and children of my kingdom, teaching

them the arts of love, obedience, service, housewifery, comforting them in sorrow. Here, also, shall be written

of my sweet daughter Silver Halianthe, my seaflower, who (having been born in my galley on my

Thospitian Sea, and having been bred by Queen Helen) has become her golden mother's second self.

On the eighth roll, it shall be written of my friend glancingeyed Diokles, and of my own cousin Perseys of

the sea (the most renowned of heroes), who came to my kingdom while my sons were young, to teach them

all those things which the sons of heroes and of kings must know, and to shew them what the sons of heroes

On the ninth roll, it shall be written of Hermes the Helper and of Eros the Great Inchanter, and of my two

faithful slaves Neandros and Thalos. Here, shall be written of the mighty magic which Eros taught to

ingenious Neandros my slave, and to my dear son Haliastos desiring it, so that they found out wells of

fragrant oil wherein pitch beautifully floats, and also wells of limpid water, for the magic instruments which

they make, wherewith they cut the air into compact blocks, storing the same in the secret parts of chariots

(which, also, they make), so that the said chariots, fishshaped, run on the earth, or fly in the air, or swim in

and on the sea, more swiftly than a bird or a thought, having no sails nor oars nor even horses to draw them.

And with these I win great victories over hairy barbarians, even over the Parthians with their blooming

elephants. And here, also, shall be written of the wisdom unspeakable which Hermes taught to ingenious

Thalos my slave, and to my strange and very dear son Nikolaos desiring it: so that I placed them over my

royal college of mages seeking wisdom, which I stablished on the peak above my Thospitian Sea.

On the tenth roll, it shall be written of the death of my darling son Diyllos, in my war with the Kilikian

pirates, in the moment of victory with his circle of dead about him as high as the wellfolded tablets of his

breast. Herakles lighted his funeralpyre, heaped with his chariots, his arms, his trophies, and a few of his

toys. I could not burn my own work, the most beautiful body of my son. I preserve it, using the best of all my

magic art, so that it will be sweet and fresh for me for ever and ever. Here, also, shall be written of the fair

and kingly crypt, where I have hidden that vesture of my darling son, with my private treasures; and of my

On the eleventh roll, it shall be written of the embassador who came from Caesar Augustus, demanding my

submission, requiring me to send my sons, with the sons of neighbouring kings, as hostages, to Rome. Here,

also, shall be written of the manner of my dealing with the said embassador, at high noon, on a terrace of my

palace builded of white jade and alabaster and eyechalcedonyx and silver, on the shore of my Thospitian

Sea: to whom I casually appeared, of immortal stature, blazing like the serene and vivid moon, arrayed in

ermine and silver tissue sown all over with rosecrystals and blue moonstones, flying through the air across

the sea in my silvershining chariot inlaid with crabs and moons in motherofpearl, having with me (in the

chariot) Queen Helen, daughter of Zeys the Swan, robed in gold and amethyst tissue, with her gold hair

floating like a web of woven sunbeams, and with immortal Hermes the Luckbringer, wingfooted,

goldenwanded, flying (as usual) above my head, and with immortal Love, my charioteer. Here, also, shall

be written of the splendid ceremonies which I caused to be observed at the interment of the Roman

On the twelfth roll, it shall be written of the names of all the mages of all kingdoms on the widebosomed

earth, whom I have brought into my kingdom, where they teach their wisdom to me and to my mages, and

learn ours, serving me in both ways. Here also shall be written of the histories of those mages, and of the

On the thirteenth roll, it shall he written (in the hand of Empedokles son of Polypemon, and in his own

words) of who he was and whence he came: but he shall write also (in my words) of the reason why I brought

On the fourteenth roll, it shall be written of the book of magic inchantments which I (of my wisdom)

compiled for my royal college of mages seeking wisdom: of the parts of the said book, and also the secret . . .

NOW I, Queen Helen, daughter of Zeys, an immortal, say these words to be written fairly by Empedokles son

of Polypemon, scribe of my beloved lord and true husband King Balthazar of Moxoene, whom the immortals

and the Argives call King Odysseys, but he calls himself Nikolaos the Crab, viceroy of Victory queen of the

Yesterday, at dawn, our strange and very dear son Nikolaos Diadokhos came with the faithful Thalos from

They said to the king that they had seen a great new Star, suddenly shining in the southwestern heaven, far

My lord and husband the king, having straitly examined them, became filled with fear and gladness strangely

My lord and husband the king enacted an act of regency, naming me, Queen Helen, as Regent of his kingdom

My lord and husband the king arrayed himself in his silver shining panoply, and he caused our strange and

very dear son Nikolaos Diadokhos and the faithful Thalos to put on their garments of glory.

My lord and husband the king summoned his silvershining chariot; and he caused our strange and very dear

My lord and husband the king, with his own hands, took out of our treasury that casket of rockcrystal, three

spans long and two spans deep and one span broad, which, during his leisure of these many years, he has

carved with crabs and moons and inlaid with bluemoonstones, binding it with hasps and hinges and bands of

silver, all with his own hands; and he filled it full with our royal quintessence of gumolibanon, which he has

My lord and husband the king kissed me in a manner which he never has used before, bidding me to be of

Having done all these strange things, my lord and husband the king ascended his silvershining chariot, with

the two mages aforesaid, taking with him the rockcrystal casket of frankincense aforesaid; and, so, he very

Now I, Queen Helen, daughter of Zeys, an immortal, having already endured manly evils, and being now

perturbed in my mind, have caused these words to be written, that I may place them in a most secret holy

crypt. And I will place them with that which is most dear, which is there, and with the secret silver urns

which contain toys, and with the secret silver chest which contains writings, because these are the chief

And, when I have done this, I will see the secret holy crypt closed by Empedokles son of Polypemon and by

the faithful Neandros. And I will seal the door with the royal sigil. And I will see the very door itself hidden

And I will do all these things, that my lord and husband the king may find his secrets safe, when he shall