Hypatia or New Foes with an Old Face Part 50

'Let me not, O men of Macedonia, suppose that you can be disturbed from that equanimity which befits politicians, by so light an accident as the caprice of a dancer. The spectacle which I have had the honour and delight of exhibiting to you-(Roars and applause from the liberated prisoners and the young gentlemen)-and on which it seemed to me you have deigned to look with not altogether unkindly eyes-(Fresh applause, in which the Christian mob, relenting, began to join)-is but a pleasant prelude to that more serious business for which I have drawn you here together. Other testimonials of my good intentions have not been wanting in the release of suffering innocence, and in the largess of food, the growth and natural property of Egypt, destined by your late tyrants to pamper the luxury of a distant court.... Why should I boast?-yet even now this head is weary, these limbs fail me, worn out in ceaseless efforts for your welfare, and in the perpetual administration of the strictest justice. For a time has come in which the Macedonian race, whose boast is the gorgeous city of Alexander, must rise again to the political pre-eminence which they held of old, and becoming once more the masters of one-third of the universe, be treated by their rulers as freemen, citizens, heroes, who have a right to choose and to employ their rulers-Rulers, did I say? Let us forget the word, and subst.i.tute in its place the more philosophic term of ministers. To be your minister-the servant of you all-To sacrifice myself, my leisure, health, life, if need be, to the one great object of securing the independence of Alexandria-This is my work, my hope, my glory-longed for through weary years: now for the first time possible by the fall of the late puppet Emperor of Rome. Men of Macedonia, remember that Honorius reigns no more! An African sits on the throne of the Caesars! Heraclian, by one decisive victory, has gained, by the favour of-of Heaven, the imperial purple; and a new era opens for the world. Let the conqueror of Rome balance his account with that Byzantine court, so long the incubus of our Trans-Mediterranean wealth and civilisation; and let a free, independent, and united Africa rally round the palaces and docks of Alexandria, and find there its natural centre of polity and of prosperity.'

A roar of hired applause interrupted him and not a few, half for the sake of his compliments and fine words, half from a natural wish to be on the right side-namely, the one which happened to be in the ascendant for the time being-joined.... The city authorities were on the point of crying, 'Imperator Orestes,' but thought better of it; and waited for some one else to cry first-being respectable. Whereon the Prefect of the Guards, being a man of some presence of mind, and also not in anywise respectable, p.r.i.c.ked up the Prefect of the docks with the point of his dagger, and bade him, with a fearful threat, take care how he played traitor. The worthy burgher roared incontinently-whether with pain or patriotism; and the whole array of respectabilities-having found a Curtius who would leap into the gulf, joined in unanimous chorus, and saluted Orestes as Emperor; while Hypatia, amid the shouts of her aristocratic scholars, rose and knelt before him, writhing inwardly with shame and despair, and entreated him to accept that tutelage of Greek commerce, supremacy, and philosophy which was forced on him by the unanimous voice of an adoring people....

'It is false!' shouted a voice from the highest tiers, appropriated to the women of the lower cla.s.ses, which made all turn their heads in bewilderment.

'False! false! you are tricked! He is tricked! Heraclian was utterly routed at Ostia, and is fled to Carthage, with the emperor's fleet in chase.'

'She lies! Drag the beast down!' cried Orestes, utterly thrown off his balance by the sudden check.

'She? He! I, a monk, brought the news! Cyril has known it-every Jew in the Delta has known it, for a week past! So perish all the enemies of the Lord, caught in their own snare!'

And bursting desperately through the women who surrounded him, the monk vanished.

An awful silence fell on all who heard. For a minute every man looked in his neighbour's face as if he longed to cut his throat, and get rid of one witness, at least, of his treason. And then arose a tumult, which Orestes in vain attempted to subdue. Whether the populace believed the monk's words or not, they were panic-stricken at the mere possibility of their truth. Hoa.r.s.e with denying, protesting, appealing, the would-be emperor had at last to summon his guards around him and Hypatia, and make his way out of the theatre as best he could; while the mult.i.tude melted away like snow before the rain, and poured out into the streets in eddying and roaring streams, to find every church placarded by Cyril with the particulars of Heraclian's ruin.

CHAPTER XXIII: NEMESIS

That evening was a hideous one in the palace of Orestes. His agonies of disappointment, rage, and terror were at once so shameful and so fearful, that none of his slaves dare approach him; and it was not till late that his confidential secretary, the Chaldean eunuch, driven by terror of the exasperated Catholics, ventured into the tiger's den, and represented to him the immediate necessity for action.

What could he do? He was committed-Cyril only knew how deeply. What might not the wily archbishop have discovered? What might not he pretend to have discovered? What accusations might he not send off on the spot to the Byzantine Court?

'Let the gates be guarded, and no one allowed to leave the city,' suggested the Chaldee.

'Keep in monks? as well keep in rats! No; we must send off a counter-report, instantly.'

'What shall I say, your Excellency?' quoth the ready scribe, pulling out pen and inkhorn from his sash.

'What do I care? Any lie which comes to hand. What in the devil's name are you here for at all, but to invent a lie when I want one?'

'True, most n.o.ble,' and the worthy sat meekly down to his paper.... but did not proceed rapidly.

'I don't see anything that would suit the emergency, unless I stated, with your august leave, that Cyril, and not you, celebrated the gladiatorial exhibition; which might hardly appear credible?'

Orestes burst out laughing, in spite of himself. The sleek Chaldee smiled and purred in return. The victory was won; and Orestes, somewhat more master of himself, began to turn his vulpine cunning to the one absorbing question of the saving of his worthless neck.

'No, that would be too good. Write, that we had discovered a plot on Cyril's part to incorporate the whole of the African churches (mind and specify Carthage and Hippo) under his own jurisdiction, and to throw off allegiance to the Patriarch of Constantinople, in case of Heraclian's success.'

The secretary purred delighted approval, and scribbled away now with right good heart.

'Heraclian's success, your Excellency.'

'We of course desired, by every means in our power, to gratify the people of Alexandria, and, as was our duty, to excite by every lawful method their loyalty toward the throne of the Caesars (never mind who sat on it) at so critical a moment.'

'So critical a moment....'

'But as faithful Catholics, and abhorring even in the extremest need, the sin of Uzzah, we dreaded to touch with the unsanctified hands of laymen the consecrated ark of the Church, even though for its preservation....'

'Its preservation, your Excellency....'

'We, therefore, as civil magistrates, felt bound to confine ourselves to those means which were already allowed by law and custom to our jurisdiction; and accordingly made use of those largesses, spectacles, and public execution of rebels, which have unhappily appeared to his holiness the patriarch (too ready, perhaps, to find a cause of complaint against faithful adherents of the Byzantine See) to partake of the nature of those gladiatorial exhibitions, which are equally abhorrent to the spirit of the Catholic Church, and to the charity of the sainted emperors by whose pious edicts they have been long since abolished.'

'Your Excellency is indeed great.... but-pardon your slave's remark-my simplicity is of opinion that it may be asked why you did not inform the Augusta Pulcheria of Cyril's conspiracy?'

'Say that we sent a messenger off three months ago, but that.... Make something happen to him, stupid, and save me the trouble.'

'Shall I kill him by Arabs in the neighbourhood of Palmyra, your Excellency?'

'Let me see.... No. They may make inquiries there. Drown him at sea. n.o.body can ask questions of the sharks.'

'Foundered between Tyre and Crete, from which sad calamity only one man escaped on a raft, and being picked tip, after three weeks' exposure to the fury of the elements, by a returning wheat-ship-By the bye, most n.o.ble, what am I to say about those wheat-ships not having even sailed?'

'Head of Augustus! I forgot them utterly. Say that-say that the plague was making such ravages in the harbour quarter that we feared carrying the infection to the seat of the empire; and let them sail to-morrow.'

The secretary's face lengthened.

'My fidelity is compelled to remark, even at the risk of your just indignation, that half of them have been unloaded again for your munificent largesses of the last two days.'

Orestes swore a great oath.

'Oh, that the mob had but one throat, that I might give them an emetic! Well, we must buy more corn, that's all.'

The secretary's face grew longer still.

'The Jews, most August-'

'What of them?' yelled the hapless Prefect. 'Have they been forestalling?'

'My a.s.siduity has discovered this afternoon that they have been buying up and exporting all the provisions which they could obtain.'

'Scoundrels! Then they must have known of Heraclian's failure!'

'Your sagacity has, I fear, divined the truth. They have been betting largely against his success for the last week, both in Canopus and Pelusium.'

'For the last week! Then Miriam betrayed me knowingly!' And Orestes broke forth again into a paroxysm of fury.

'Here-call the tribune of the guard! A hundred gold pieces to the man who brings me the witch alive!'

'She will never be taken alive.'

'Dead, then-in any way! Go, you Chaldee hound! what are you hesitating about?'

'Most n.o.ble lord,' said the secretary, prostrating himself upon the floor, and kissing his master's feet in an agony of fear....

'Remember, that if you touch one Jew you touch all! Remember the bonds! remember the-the-your own most august reputation, in short.'