Serapis | Page 2

hermitage in the desert, and from most of the
monasteries in the surrounding district--the 'Nitriote Nome'. Some of
them had laid their heads close together for confidential whispering,
others squabbled loudly, and a large group in the northern angle of the
court had raised a psalm which mingled strangely with the "three,"

"four," "seven," of the men who were playing 'mora', and the cry of the
cook inviting purchasers to his stall spread with meat, bread, and
onions.
At the end of the court furthest from the gateway there was a covered
way, on to which a row of doors opened leading to the rooms devoted
to families of women and children, each apartment being divided into
two by a curtain across the middle. The stranger made his way into one
of these rooms, where he was warmly welcomed by a young man, who
was occupied in cutting a Kopais reed into a mouth-piece for a double
flute, and by a tall matronly woman.
The new-comer's name was Karnis and he was the head of a family of
wandering singers who had arrived in Alexandria only the day before
from Rome. His surroundings were poor and mean, for their ship had
been attacked off the African coast by a band of pirates, and though
they had saved their lives they had lost everything they possessed. The
young owner of the vessel, to whom he owed his safety, had procured
him admission to this Xenodochium,--[a refuge or inn]--kept by his
mother the Widow Mary; Karnis had, however, found it far from
comfortable, and had gone forth at noon to seek other quarters.
"All in vain!" said he, as he wiped the heat drops from his forehead. "I
have hunted Medius half the city through and found him at last at the
house of Posidonius the Magian, whose assistant he is. There was
singing behind a curtain--wretched rubbish; but there were some old
airs too with an accompaniment on the flutes, in the style of Olympus,
and really not so bad.
"Then spirits appeared. By Sirius a queer business altogether! Medius
is in the midst of it all. I arranged the chorus and sang with them a little.
All I got for it was a little dirty silver--there! But as for a lodging--free
quarters!--there are none to be found here for anything above an owl;
and then there is the edict--that cursed edict!"
During this speech the younger man had exchanged meaning glances
with his mother. He now interrupted Karnis, saying in a tone of
encouragement:

"Never mind, father; we have something good in view."
"You have?" said the old man with an incredulous shrug, while his wife
served him with a small roast chicken, on a stool which did duty for a
table.
"Yes father, we!" the lad went on, laying aside his knife. "You know
we vowed an offering to Dionysus for our escape, since he himself
once fell into the hands of pirates, so we went at once to his temple.
Mother knew the way; and as we--she, I mean, and Dada and
myself. . ."
"Heh! what is this?" interrupted Karnis, now for the first time noticing
the dish before him. "A fowl--when we are so miserably poor? A whole
fowl, and cooked with oil?" He spoke angrily, but his wife, laying her
hand on his shoulder, said soothingly:
"We shall soon earn it again. Never a sesterce was won by fretting.
Enjoy to-day's gifts and the gods will provide for to-morrow."
"Indeed?" asked Karnis in an altered key. "To be sure when a roast
fowl flies into one's mouth instead of a pigeon. . . . But you are right as
usual, Herse, as usual, only--here am I battening like a senator while
you--I lay a wager you have drunk nothing but milk all day and eaten
nothing but bread and radishes. I thought so? Then the chicken must
pretend to be a pheasant and you, wife, will eat this leg. The girls are
gone to bed? Why here is some wine too! Fill up your cup, boy. A
libation to the God! Glory to Dionysus!" The two men poured the
libation on the floor and drank; then the father thrust his knife into the
breast of the bird and began his meal with a will, while Orpheus, the
son, went on with his story:
"Well, the temple of Dionysus was not to be found, for Bishop
Theophilus has had it destroyed; so to what divinity could we offer our
wreath and cake? Here in Egypt there is none but the great Mother Isis.
Her sanctuary is on the shore of Lake Mareotis and mother found it at
once. There she fell into conversation with a priestess who, as soon as
she learnt that my mother belonged to a