Euergetes

“ A mirror—give me a mirror, Eulaeus. By heaven! I do not look much like prison fare—more like a man in whose strong brain there is no lack of deep schemes, who can throttle his antagonist with a grip of his fist, and who is prompt to avail himself of all the spoil that comes in his way, so that he may compress the pleasures of a whole day into every hour, and enjoy them to the utmost! As surely as my name is Euergetes my uncle Antiochus was right in liking to mix among the populace. ”

“ Euergetes withdrew a step from his sister, and said: "You were right. It is not only among the race of gods that the most fearful of all are women!"
"What have you to say?" retorted Cleopatra. "And am I to believe that a toothache has kept the Roman away from the banquet yesterday, and again from coming to see me to-day? Am I to repeat, after you, that he died of it? Now, speak out, for it rejoices my heart to hear it; where and how did the insolent hypocrite meet his end?"
"A serpent stung him," replied Euergetes, turning from his sister. "It was in the desert, not far from the Apis-tombs." ”

“ With these words Euergetes rose from his couch, and beckoned to Hierax and a chamberlain, who arranged the folds of his transparent robe, while Philometor and Cleopatra whispered together, shrugging their shoulders and shaking their heads; and Publius, pressing his hand on the Corinthian's wrist, said in his ear: "You will not give them any help if you value our friendship; we will leave as soon as we can do so with propriety." ”

“ But Euergetes himself was aware of the need for speech, and he began, without pausing in his walk or looking at his dignified friend:
“Even the Philobasilistes have proved corrupt; my soldiers in the citadel are more numerous and are better men too than those that have remained faithful to Philometor, and there ought to be nothing more for me to do but to stir up a brief clatter of swords on shields, to spring upon the throne, and to have myself proclaimed king; but I will never go into the field with the strongest division of the enemy in my rear. ”

“ The eyes of the first of these ruffians were prominent, weak and bloodshot, with a fixed glassy stare, while those of the other seemed always to be on the watch with a restless and uneasy leer.
These were Euergetes’ assassins—they must be! Spellbound with terror and revulsion she stood quite still, fearing only that the ruffians might hear the beating of her heart, for she felt as if it were a hammer swung up and down in an empty space, and beating with loud echoes, now in her bosom and now in her throat. ”

“ A smile of triumph flashed across the features of the young giant; he flung himself with an air of indifference on to a purple divan, and desired that a magnificent lyre made of ivory, and presented to him by his sister, should be brought to him; on it was carved with wonderful skill and delicacy a representation of the first marriage, that of Cadmus with Harmonia, at which all the gods had attended as guests.
Euergetes grasped the chords with wonderful vigor and mastery, and began to play a wedding march, in which eager triumph alternated with tender whisperings of love and longing. ”

“ Philometor’s infant son, Ptolemy Philopator Neos (?) [1] , was proclaimed king in Alexandria under the regency of his mother Cleopatra. Euergetes however, swooping from Cyrene, seized the throne and married Cleopatra, making away with his nephew. He has left an odious picture of himself in the historians—a man untouched by benefits or natural affection, delighting in deeds of blood, his body as loathsome in its blown corpulence as his soul. Something must be allowed for the rhetorical habit of our authorities, but that Euergetes was ready enough to shed blood when policy required seems true. ”

“ King Philometor has commanded that his brother Euergetes' birthday shall be kept to-day in Memphis. Let all the standards be hoisted, and the garlands of flowers which will presently arrive from Arsinoe be fastened up on the pylons; have the animals brought in for sacrifice, and arrange a procession for the afternoon. All the dwellers in the temple must be carefully attired. But there is another thing; Komanus has been here, and has promised us great things in Euergetes' name, and declares that he intends to punish his brother Philometor for having abducted a girl—Irene—attached to our temple. ”

“ Euergetes himself plays the harp admirably. However, it is well that he is late in coming as usual, for the day after tomorrow is his birthday, and he is to spend it here with us and not in Alexandria; the priestly delegates assembled in the Bruchion are to come from thence to Memphis to wish him joy, and we must endeavor to get up some brilliant festival. You have no love for Eulaeus, Publius, but he is extremely skilled in such matters, and I hope he will presently return to give us his advice."
"For the morning we will have a grand procession," cried the king. ”

“ Euergetes was being borne to the temple of Ptah, and proclaimed by its astonished chief-priests, as King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and successor to Philometor. Four pigeons would be let fly in his presence to announce to the four quarters of the heavens that a new sovereign had mounted the throne of his fathers, and amid prayer and sacrifice a golden sickle would be presented to him with which, according to ancient custom, he would cut an ear of corn. ”

“ Andromeda—do you hear, old woman?—you can bring my brother to me, and he will let you return quicker than Thais, I fancy. You need not leer at yourself in the glass, you cannot do anything to alter your wrinkles. My head-dress is already done. Give me that linen wrapper, Olympias, and then he may come! Why, there he is already! First you ask permission, brother, and then disdain to wait till it is given you."
"Longing and waiting," replied Euergetes, "are but an ill-assorted couple. ”

“ You have taken my comrade's life, Roman, and a two-legged serpent has stung you for it. In a quarter of an hour it will be all over with you, as it is with that fellow there. Why does a fine gentleman like you go to keep an appointment in the desert without boots or sandals, and so make our work so easy? King Euergetes and your friend Eulaeus send you their greetings. ”

“ Euergetes did not deceive himself in this matter any more than his sister, and he went towards the door holding the sacrificial sickle, which formed part of his regalia, in his right hand. But he had not crossed the room when Eulaeus rushed in, as pale as death, and calling out to his sovereign:
"The murderers have betrayed us; Publius Scipio is alive, and insists on being admitted to speak with you." ”

“ If that fellow's dagger breaks he can kill his victim with those teeth, as a fox does a duck, or smash his bones with his fist."
"But, my lord," replied Eulaeus dryly and with a certain matter-of-fact gravity to King Euergetes—for he it was who had come with him into the room adjoining Klea's retreat, "the dry little Egyptian with the thin straight hair is even more trustworthy and tougher and nimbler than his companion, and, so far, more estimable. ”

“ The man thus addressed, the commander-in-chief of the royal troops, and the king’s particular friend, cast a hesitating glance at the bystanders; but, Euergetes desiring him to speak without reserve, he replied:
“Wine never weakens the mind of such as you are to the point of folly, but you were imprudent. It would be little short of a miracle if Philometor did not remark—”
“Capital!” interrupted the king sitting up on his cushions. “You, Hierax, and you, Komanus, remain here—you others may go. But do not go too far off, so as to be close at hand in case I should need you. ”

“ Euergetes did not like to be kept waiting. He was already going towards the door, when Cleopatra called him back, and said pleasantly, but with gentle reproachfulness:
"You know that we are willing to follow the Egyptian custom of carrying out as far as possible the wishes of a friend and brother for his birthday festival; but for that very reason it is not right in you to try to force us into a proceeding which we refuse with difficulty, and yet cannot carry out without exposing ourselves to the most unpleasant consequences. ”

“ But Irene had been long since warmly welcomed in the house of Apollodorus, the sculptor, by the time they once more found themselves together in the chariot; Eulaeus feigning, and Zoe in reality feeling, extreme dissatisfaction at all that had taken place in the temple. The high-priest had rejected Philometor's demand that he should send the water-bearer to the palace on King Euergetes' birthday, with a decisiveness which Eulaeus would never have given him credit for, for he had on former occasions shown a disposition to measures of compromise ”

“ They must use neither dagger nor lance, but they will easily achieve their end with slings and hooks and poisoned needles, which leave wounds that resemble the sting of an adder. We may safely depend on these fellows."
Once more Euergetes laughed loudly, and exclaimed: What criticism! Exactly as if these blood-hounds were tragic actors of which one could best produce his effects by fire and pathos, and the other by the subtlety of his conception. I call that an unprejudiced judgment. And why should not a man be great even as a murderer? ”

“ Euergetes shrugged his shoulders, and replied gravely:
“Rome indeed is like Fate, which always must give the final decision in everything we do. I have certainly not been behindhand in enormous sacrifices to mollify that inexorable power, and my representative, through whose hands pass far greater sums than through those of the paymasters of the troops, writes me word that they are not unfavorably disposed towards me in the Senate.”
“We have learned that from ours also. You have more friends by the Tiber than Philometor, my own king, has ”

“ Of the general preservation and faunal associates of these eurypterids Barrande remarks:
"Our basin, so privileged in respect to the frequency and the state of preservation of the trilobites and the other crustacea, appears, on the contrary, very poor in the fossils representing the two types of eurypterids, which are recognized in our formations. (Pterygotus and Eurypterus) .
". . . . Far from finding individuals complete and well preserved, it will prove difficult to add any new facts of importance to those already published on the organization of the species of this type. ”

“ The Bertie contains the largest eurypterid fauna of any one formation in the world, there being recorded fourteen species (39, 89) referred to four genera: Eurypterus (5 sp.) , Pterygotus (5 sp.) , Eusarcus (1 sp.) , and Dolichopterus (3 sp.) . The specimens are for the most part astonishingly well preserved, but other organisms are extremely rare. In the Museum above referred to are a few specimens of marine organisms obtained from the formation which furnished the eurypterids. ”

“ It is a fauna in which the genera Eurypterus and Pterygotus prevail in number of species (Eurypterus with five, Pterygotus with three) and in the size of the creatures, which are there obviously near the climax of their development. It is also the horizon where individual development is greatest. [5]
One or two stragglers, notably Eurypterus remipes, return in the Rondout waterlime in greatly diminished number, and a new peculiar type of Eurypterus (E. microphthalmus) appears in waterlime intercalations of the Manlius limestone above. ”

“ The Old Red Sandstone Fauna. The last of the European formations which is believed to have been derived from the continent of Atlantica is the Old Red sandstone. Most the eurypterids occur in the beds in various localities in Forfarshire. By far the most abundant species is Pterygotus anglicus which finds it nearest relatives in Pterygotus bufaloensis and P. macrophthalmus from the Bertie, and P. osiliensis from the Baltic region. The various points of similarity are so well known that it is not necessary to take them up. ”

“ The fifth pair of postoral appendages have been termed the ectognaths, ectognathites or swimming legs, because in most genera (Eurypterus, Dolichopterus, Eusarcus, Hughmilleria, Slimonia, Pterygotus) the terminal segments are flattened into a paddle-shaped organ that is currently considered as having functioned in swimming. ”

“ Many important points in the ontogeny and phylogeny of the eurypterids are here set forth for the first time, and all of the North American species are described in great detail and figured in a volume of plates that surpass all former illustrations.
I wish to express my thanks to Dr. R. Ruedemann, who allowed me to study the large collection of New York eurypterids at the State Museum in Albany; to Dr. C. D. Walcott, who showed me the large Beltina fauna and the beautiful specimens of Limulava from the Middle Cambric Stephen shale of Canada in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C ”

“ Yet the facts, that no complete individual has been found, that even the fragments are of so uncertain a character that some which at first were supposed to belong to separate species have with more study been found to belong to the same species, and finally that the eurypterids, of all the myriad organisms which lived in that sea, should have been broken to fragments of which only a few are found—these facts will not admit of explanation on the ground that the eurypterids lived in the sea. ”

“ Orestes.
⁠Thy mother stays
Unmoved 'mid all thy wrong?
Electra.
⁠A lover weighs
More than a child in any woman's heart.
Orestes.
But what end seeks Aegisthus, by such art
Of shame?
Electra.
⁠To make mine unborn children low
And weak, even as my husband.
Orestes.
⁠Lest there grow
From thee the avenger?
Electra.
⁠Such his purpose is:
For which may I requite him!
Orestes.
⁠And of this
Thy virgin life—Aegisthus knows it?
Electra.
⁠Nay,
We speak it not. It cometh not his way.
Orestes.
These women hear us. Are they friends to thee?
Electra. ”