Pierre Louÿs

“ She slowly rose and presented a bronze mirror which had been hanging at her girdle.
“To thee,” she said, “Astarte, Goddess of the Night, who minglest hands and lips and whose symbol is like unto the footprint of the hinds upon the earth of Syria, Chrysis consecrates her mirror. It has seen the eyes and the gleam of love in them, the hair clinging to the temples after the rites of thy ceremonial, O thou warrior with relentless hands thou mingler of bodies and mouths.” ”

“ Nearly all the young girls of the countryside are in Seville on such a day as this. Paper confetti fall as a coloured rain, fans shade and protect pretty powdered faces, there are cries, appeals and laughter in the narrow streets. A few thousands of people make more noise on this day of Carnival than would the whole of Paris.
But, on the twenty-third of February in eighteen hundred and ninety-six, André Stévenol saw the end of the Carnival approaching with a slight feeling of vexation, for the week, although essentially one of love-affairs, had not brought him any new adventure. ”

“ In the grotto from which the river emerged in a mysterious way the nymph Cyanée gave birth to twins; one was a son who was named Caunos, and the other a girl to whom the name of Byblis was given.
They both grew up upon the banks of the Méandre, and sometimes Cyanée showed them beneath its transparent surface the divine appearance of their father, whose soul disturbed its flowing stream.
The only world the children knew was the forest in which they were born. They had never seen the sun except through the network of its branches. ”

“ The sun sinking behind the harbour, that incomparable glory of a coast town, the calm sky, the purple waters, were they not enough to bring silence to any soul bursting with joy or sorrow! What footsteps would they not stay, what pleasure suspend and what voice they not hush? Demetrios watched: a swell of torrent-like flame seemed to leap out from the sun which had half sunk into the sea and to flow straight to the curved edge of the wood of Aphrodite. ”

“ People have told me that during thirty years he has cured more Olynthians than we were able to kill when we took their city. This will be a precious slave when he is chained and has felt the rod. He plays the insolent, but he will change his tone, as all the others will or have done. Then, if you lead him away with you, Death will not come to you till your hundredth winter! Give me thirty drachmas, and this Nicostratus will be your thing for ever.”
“Nicostratus,” repeated Parrhasius to me; “as a poet I know one of that name. My indifference is total towards the science of medicine.” ”

“ It was impossible for her to wear or sell a famous stolen mirror, the comb of a woman who had perhaps been murdered in its acquirement, or the necklace of pearls belonging to the Goddess. By retaining possession of them she exposed herself every day to a discovery which would be fatal to her. Then why did she ask for them? Was it to destroy them? He knew that women did not rejoice in secrets and that good luck only pleased them when it was well known to every one. ”

“ The earth was given up to the joy of the gods and the times favoured the birth of amazing divinities. It was the time of Echnida and the Chimera of Pasiphæ and the Minotaur. The young ones that there were went pale through the woods fearing to be waylaid by dragons. Nevertheless upon the humid banks of the river Eurotas, where the trees were so thick that one could not see the light, there lived an extraordinary young girl who was blue-tinted like the light of the night, mysterious as the moon and sweet as the Milky Way. That was why they had named her Lêda. ”

“ Were you before the statue? Yes, I am sure you were there. You love it more now than you love me. It is very like me, it has my eyes, my mouth, my [Pg 183] breasts; but that is what you seek. As for me I am poor and forlorn. You are weary of me and I can see it clearly. You think of your marble and your ugly statues as if I were not more beautiful than all of them, as well as being alive, loving, good, ready to give all that you will accept and resigned to your refusals. But you will have nothing. You would not be king, you would not be a god and worshipped in a temple of your own. ”

“ I know whom you possess. I do not desire to be your mistress, nor do I aspire to become my Queen’s rival. No, Demetrios, [Pg 148] do with me what you will: look upon me as a little slave whom one takes and casts aside in a moment. Take me like one of the lowest of those poor courtesans who wait by the side of the pathway for furtive and abortive love. ”

“ MYLITTA AND MELITTA
“Purify yourself, stranger.”
“I shall enter pure,” Demetrios said. With the end of her hair dipped in the holy water the young guardian of the gate moistened first his eyes, then his lips and then his fingers, so that his look, the kiss from his mouth and the caress of his hands were all sanctified. ”

“ Finally, gigantic and heavy, crowned with flowers, the beard impregnated with perfumes and clad in an enormous purple robe, I saw Parrhasius himself. He walked as though he scorned and spurned the earth beneath his feet. Each arm was around the shoulders of a beautiful girl. ”

“ I have, too, a thousand foreign slaves: those you desire shall be given to you. I will dress them like myself, in yellow silk, gold and silver.
“No, you are the handsomest and coldest of men. You love no one, you lend yourself simply out of charity for those whom your eyes have filled with love. You allow me to obtain my happiness from your presence, but only in the way a beast allows itself to be led, looking elsewhere. ”

“ Another said—
“Mousairon lays at the feet of the Goddess of the beautiful crown, these garlands and bouquets of flowers. She has worn them at the fête and has invoked thy name in the intoxication of their perfumes. O Conqueror, receive these spoils of love.”
Another one said—
“As an offering to thee, golden Cytheræ, Timo consecrates this sinuous bracelet. Mayst thou entwine thy vengeance around the throat of the one thou knowest, as this silver serpent entwined itself about these naked arms.” ”

“ Will it be all in vain that the patriarchs have placed Venus as the terrible antithesis of God, and will no one understand that she is Satan? Is it all in vain that ancient tradition has painted the satyrs with horns, black tail, goat’s legs and cloven hoofs: will no one realize that they are demons? With regard to the flames of hell, will no one in the world understand that they are thousands of naked women dancing ... ”

“ Every woman had brought from her own country a little image of the Goddess, and as it stood there upon the altar of the house it was worshipped by each one in her own tongue. Lakmî Ashtoreth, Venus, Iskhtar, Freia, Mylitta, and Cypris were some of the holy names of their Divinity of Pleasure. Some worshipped the divinity in the symbolical shapes of a sea pebble, a conical stone, or a large prickly shell. ”

“ Byblis was full of confidence. She was now sure that she was upon the right track; without a doubt the hind had been sent by the goddess herself out of gratitude for her devoutness, and the divine animal was leading her through the woods to her beloved brother from whom she would never again be separated. Every step took her nearer to the place where she would see Caunos again. She could even now feel upon her breast the fugitive’s affectionate embrace. ”

“ Ah! cursed be virgins! for the love they have repulsed during their brief existence will justly be their punishment in their future state.”
He seized me by the arm.
“Listen! The sun is sinking. Now is the time. Every evening I come here, and sweetly the Goddess sings. She calls me from afar; she attracts me. I come just as at the day of my death, at the day of my fall into the Venushoehle. ”

“ In many of the houses there was upon a wooden stand a rough statuette with thin arms, large breasts, and huge thighs. They placed a myrtle branch at the feet of the idol, strewed the altar with rose-leaves, and burnt a grain of incense [Pg 112] for each prayer which was granted. The Goddess was the confidante of all their sorrows, the witness of all their labours, and the supposed cause of all their pleasure. At the courtesan’s death the image was placed in her fragile coffin as a guardian of her tomb. ”

“ Every day and every hour we shall experience desire, even to the extent of suffering, for more and more beautiful women, and at the moment of possession we shall see them, as on earth, vanish in smoke. But that which is here a spasm, a fear, a cry, a sob,—which suffices to prepare the curse of a human life—will be there a perpetual tremor, uninterrupted anguish, and the punishment of years, of centuries and of centuries. ”

“ He lifted his head: it was Queen Berenice reclining in her litter.
She ordered the bearers to stop and stretched out her arms to her lover.
[Pg 180]
Demetrios was much annoyed; but he could not refuse, so he slipped into the litter, with a sullen air.
Then Queen Berenice was filled with joy and rolled upon her cushions like a playful cat.
Now this litter was a room and twenty-four slaves carried it. Twelve women could easily lie within amid its blue tapestry, cushions and stuffs; and it was so lofty that it was not possible to touch the ceiling even with a fan. ”

“ I imagined that after so many years that the human race would have discovered fabrics to dress in more wonderful than a tissue of sun and silk, more pleasurable to touch than the exquisite tender skin of young virgins, of rose-leaves, of downy peaches. ”

“ They all crowded around Byblis and [Pg 88] spoke to her, for they were frightened because the river of the child’s tears had traced in the earth a sinuous track which was slowly extending towards the plain.
But now Byblis could hear nothing, neither voices, footsteps, nor the night wind. Her attitude little by little became eternal. Her skin had assumed beneath the deluge of tears the smooth white tint of marble washed by the waters. The wind would not have disturbed one of her hairs which were as long as her arms. She died like pure marble. ”

“ Artemidora was dressed in a white tunic, girdle, and veil. She often turned to look at us, and it seemed to me that when properly robed she seemed to be another person. Her face acquired another expression, and she seemed anxious to glean from one of us which was to be the man she was fated to surrender to. Already we had been through half the principal street when Parrhasius stopped, and said—
“No. That for which I seek is not here. The youth of the body and the beauty of the face are not found together. I have more chance, I think, of finding my man among slaves of the second class.” ”

“ The houses in sight were painted in light colours that Seville favours as a rule: colours like the gay tints of women’s dresses—cream, rose, green, orange, violet, but not the fearful brown of Cadiz or Madrid, or the crude white of Jérez. There were orange-trees in sight, bearing fruit; running fountains and laughing girls, holding their shawls close. From all sides come the sound of [Pg 17] the mules’ bells. André could not then imagine any other place in which to live but—Seville. ”

“ I respected Love and I never degraded her. Scarcely ever have I caressed a woman whom I did not passionately love. If I were to name or number these loves to you you would be surprised for they were but a few. ”

“ But Caunos looked at the seven young girls as unmovedly as if he had been looking at seven rocks; for the image of Byblis quite filled his little soul, and [Pg 72] there was not room in him for an alien love.
For a month Cyanée took her son from mountain to mountain, and from plain to plain without succeeding in diverting him from his desire.
At last realizing that she would never overcome his obstinate passion, she began to hate her son and accuse him of infamous conduct. But the child did not understand why his mother reproached him. Why among all women was he to be refused the one he loved? ”

“ Byblis uttered a profound sigh.
“Did you,” she asked the other nymph, “see the son of Cyanée?”
[Pg 82]
“Yes. Far away from here in the mountains.”
“Whence did he come?”
“I did not follow him.”
“Where was he going?”
“I have forgotten.”
Then she continued, rising up in the midst of the flowing waters as she spake—
“Remain with us, young girl, stay. Why do you still think of him, who is absent? We have treasured up for you boundless present joys. There is no future happiness worth the trouble of pursuit.”
But Byblis did not think that the nymph had spoken the truth. ”

“ Clesides might well protest that he was a painter and not a sculptor, that one does not turn a picture to see its back; that one cannot draw a woman seen from every side upon the one flat plane of a picture.... ”

“ He had seen her approach, for she wore the same yellow robe she had done when he met her on the jetty. She walked with slow and graceful steps with undulating motion of the hips. She had come straight towards him as if she guessed he were concealed behind the stone.
From the first he realized that he had [Pg 177] again fallen at her feet. When she took from her girdle the mirror of shining bronze, she gazed at herself in it for a time before handing it to the priest, and the splendour of her eyes became dazzling. ”