The Sisters | Page 9

Besides, he found nothing to object to in his opinion of his companions,
so he turned to Eulaeus and said courteously:
"Accept my best thanks for your company so far, and do not let me
detain you any longer from your more important occupations on my
account."
Eulaeus bowed and replied, "I know what my duty is. The king
entrusted me with your safe conduct; permit me therefore to wait for
you under the acacias yonder."
When Eulaeus and the guide had reached the green grove, Irene hoped

to find an opportunity to prefer her petition, but the Roman had stopped
in front of the old man's cell, and had begun a conversation with him
which she could not venture to interrupt. She set down the platter with
the bread and dates that had been entrusted to her on a projecting stone
by her side with a little sigh, crossed her arms and feet as she leaned
against the wall, and pricked up her ears to hear their talk.
"I am not a Greek," said the youth, "and you are quite mistaken in
thinking that I came to Egypt and to see you out of mere curiosity."
"But those who come only to pray in the temple," interrupted the other,
"do not--as it seems to me--choose an Eulaeus for a companion, or any
such couple as those now waiting for you under the acacias, and
invoking anything rather than blessings on your head; at any rate, for
my own part, even if I were a thief I would not go stealing in their
company. What then brought you to Serapis?"
"It is my turn now to accuse you of curiosity!"
"By all means," cried the old man, "I am an honest dealer and quite
willing to take back the coin I am ready to pay away. Have you come to
have a dream interpreted, or to sleep in the temple yonder and have a
face revealed to you?"
"Do I look so sleepy," said the Roman, "as to want to go to bed again
now, only an hour after sunrise?"
"It may be," said the recluse, "that you have not yet fairly come to the
end of yesterday, and that at the fag-end of some revelry it occurred to
you that you might visit us and sleep away your headache at Serapis."
"A good deal of what goes on outside these walls seems to come to
your ears," retorted the Roman, "and if I were to meet you in the street I
should take you for a ship's captain or a master-builder who had to
manage a number of unruly workmen. According to what I heard of
you and those like you in Athens and elsewhere, I expected to find you
something quite different."

"What did you expect?" said Serapion laughing. "I ask you
notwithstanding the risk of being again considered curious."
"And I am very willing to answer," retorted the other, "but if I were to
tell you the whole truth I should run into imminent danger of being sent
off as ignominiously as my unfortunate guide there."
"Speak on," said the old man, "I keep different garments for different
men, and the worst are not for those who treat me to that rare dish--a
little truth. But before you serve me up so bitter a meal tell me, what is
your name?"
"Shall I call the guide?" said the Roman with an ironical laugh. "He can
describe me completely, and give you the whole history of my family.
But, joking apart, my name is Publius."
"The name of at least one out of every three of your countrymen."
"I am of the Cornelia gens and of the family of the Scipios," continued
the youth in a low voice, as though he would rather avoid boasting of
his illustrious name.
"Indeed, a noble gentleman, a very grand gentleman!" said the recluse,
bowing deeply out of his window. "But I knew that beforehand, for at
your age and with such slender ankles to his long legs only a nobleman
could walk as you walk. Then Publius Cornelius--"
"Nay, call me Scipio, or rather by my first name only, Publius," the
youth begged him. "You are called Serapion, and I will tell you what
you wish to know. When I was told that in this temple there were
people who had themselves locked into their little chambers never to
quit them, taking thought about their dreams and leading a meditative
life, I thought they must be simpletons or fools or both at once."
"Just so, just so," interrupted Serapion. "But there is a fourth alternative
you did not think of. Suppose now among these men there should be
some shut up against their will, and what if I were one of those
prisoners?