Chapter VII: Prologue (6)

Thus having delivered myself from bonds, I waited as patiently as might be. But none came near me; and, indeed, the mind in my noble breast would have bidden me to attempt the slaughter of anyone, even a blameless titan, who should have approached me, not openly coming as a friend. And my patience was tried during all that day, and the day after: nor did any voice of song cheer me.

But, on the third day, I heard someone buffetting the bars of my window; and a friendly voice uttered my great name. And, when I answered, a young and very godly face, crowned on the brow with a star, looked in upon me through the grating. And the half-immortal hero said: “Our sister, fair Helen, hath sent us to thee, O Odysseys, sacker of cities; and here am I, Polydeykes: but brother Kastor keeps watch below, for Father Zeys wishes to see what we can do unaided. Wherefore, we two are come to rescue thee: but Queen Persephone hath promised help hereafter, for Helen’s sake whom she considers injured.”

Thus he spoke: and indeed it was Polydeykes the pugilist, son of Zeys the Swan, who was taking my part. But, first, he tore at the bars of the window: but when, indeed, he found them firmly fixed, then he laughed, warning me away; and, with a boxer’s blow straight from the shoulder, he drove the massive irons inward, so that they stretched out, becoming thin as threads with sheer amazement, until they snapped in twain in every direction and ceased from being bars. But I instantly leaped to the window, crouching on the sill, till star-crowned Kastor ascended. And, having squeezed myself through the narrow aperture, the Great Twins bore me up, supporting me on both sides, till we touched the solid earth once more.

In this manner, I escaped from my dungeon in the house of Shady Hades.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] One cannot help pointing out that the same poetic imagery as that used here by Mr. C. seems to have been adopted subsequently by Meleagros of Gadara. A. H.

[46] I have managed (not without complacency) to render this exquisite (and perfectly pagan) ditty both literally and in its original hendecasyllabic or ithyphallic measure--a somewhat difficult task, and (perhaps) an audacious, in the light of Lord Tennyson’s deplorable attempt “all composed in a metre of Catullus.” A. H.

[47] I fancy that I do not err in affirming that this particular incident in the lives of Mr. C. (_i.e._ King Odysseys) may be best studied in Haggard’s erudite treatise entitled _The World’s Desire_. A. H.

THE TWENTIETH PAPYRUS

But, upon the instant when we stood in open country at the base of the rock, there came a fearful whirring of the wings of blameless harpies, beating down upon us, raucously screeching, calling titans and furies to their aid. But the Dioskoyroi laughed these bestial birds to scorn; and Polydeykes dashed his iron-studded boxing-glove into their ugly faces, whereat the ill-breathing wardens of the damned became melancholy, and fled back to their station on the wall, feeling much hurt.

But we went on through the murk, entering a secret chamber in the house of Hades, where were food and drink, corn-cakes the strength of men, with cheeses and the fat haunches of pigs, and honey-hearted wine. Here, also, by the arts of Queen Persephone, I found all my gear, and my silver-shining armour piled upon a bed, and baths of boiling water for washing. And having cleaned away my abounding sweat and slime, I anointed myself, coming out of the bath like to the immortals in person, and was visited by the shades of most accomplished barbers. But, when I sat down to a repast (not because of hunger, for, in that life I was not afflicted with the craving belly, pernicious, which brings so many evils to mortal men, but merely for the pleasure of eating and drinking with friends), then, indeed, godlike Kastor and Polydeykes served me as squires for a religious reason,[48] girding me again with my silver-shining armour glittering with rock-crystals and blue moonstones, which I won from Aias son of Telamon, in a foot-race, after lordly Akhilleys had left the earth.

Which matters having been concluded, the Great Twins conducted me to the presence of well-disposed Queen Persephone, who addressed to me unwinged words, saying: “O much-enduring grandson of Hermes, always wily and ready at need, my cousin Golden Helen hath persuaded me on thy behalf; and I will protect thee as far as may be from my shady husband’s wrath. For King Hades hath a bitter spirit, and is fain to do thee wrong, by reason that thou already hast evaded him twice, and, also, that thou (by thy wiles and a woolly sheep) didst cause to suffer much in mind and to perish most miserably his sweet friend the Kyklops Polyphemos. Nevertheless I will beseech the king to let thee go in peace, for the sake of avoiding fresh wiles of thine.”

Then came long-robed Helen, the divine one of goddesses; and I read in her amber eyes that which told me (even more than her song had told me) that she was mine now, even as she had been willing to be mine in Egypt long before. Glowed then the heart in my dear breast with love and joy; and my very form swelled hugely with pride of conquest: for, not to everyone of earth-trampling men is it given to win the love of a goddess so true that she will wait for him during a thousand years.

And so we passed into the judgment-hall of Hades, most righteous of gods brooding on his shady throne: that that which had to be done might be well-done with the least possible delay. And, before the king, the judges were giving dooms to the unnumbered dead, as usual. But Queen Persephone stood before him; and she held my hand, and said: “O king and lord of shades, it pleaseth me that King Odysseys should retire forthwith from these dismal realms, with his life, and with all else which belongeth to him.”

But, at sight of me, surly Hades bounced and had a borborygm; and he quickly answered her, saying: “Such, O daughter of Demeter, is by no means my intent: but now I will toss him into Tartaros, there to lie for ever, on account of his presumption in coming hither after having twice escaped me, and also on account of the woes which his prepotence wrought wilily upon my sweet friend, the giver of cherished gifts, even the Kyklops Polyphemos who gave me this blooming helmet of viewless night.”

But the holy queen persisted, saying: “Odysseys shall not lie for ever in Tartaros: for my cousin, Golden Helen, hath persuaded me for his sake. Yet, seeing that he cannot go hence without thy leave, I say let him fight a select champion for his liberty.”

But the shady king of terrors instantly assented, saying: “So mote it be. And irrevocable doom shall come upon him when he has been properly slain.”

But the Stygian queen smiled in scorn, mocking a king so foolish as to think that a woman, a daughter of Great Zeys, could not find some crafty wile for evading an adverse chance if necessary.

And the king cried again, saying: “Who, of all the heroes here, will fight against Odysseys, grandson of Hermes, for the honour of the house of Hades?”

And straightway answered him Attik Theseys the conqueror of the Kretan Minotayr, and loud-shouting impotent old sandy-haired King Menelaos, and woman-mad Paris son of Dardanian Priam, saying: “That will we do, O dread lord: for, of old, we sought the love of long-robed Helen, to have her after the manner of men and women. But she rejected us, favouring Odysseys with her amber eyes, from her girlhood to this day. Wherefore, we are ready to fight against him on thy behalf, O Dominator of the netherworld.”

And these three made their way to the front of the throne. Now Theseys was a stalwart hero and a very worthy champion: moreover, his very nose had gone black with jealous hatred. But sandy-haired Menelaos was merely an aged screecher and whimperer, blear-eyed, rheumy-nosed, scraggy, knotty as to the joints, and unfit to be put to tussle even with a foot-boy’s slut out of the kitchens. And Phrygian Paris, once the comely shepherd of Ida, was a flaccid obese weakling, exhausted by excess, against whom I should have been ashamed to lift a finger. So I said. But, from afar, there came a great bellowing from Salaminian Aias son of King Telamon, very mad with rage, saying that he would fight on the part of King Menelaos, having also a private grievance to avenge, in that I had won from him (on the plain of windy Ilion) the armour of glorious Akhilleys. And great-hearted Hektor, son of King Priam, took up the cause of his wasted brother Paris, claiming the right of fighting against me because of the ruin which I worked on his house and city by my wile of the Wooden Horse.

But shady Hades sniggered, saying: “Not one of these three champions, who hold my honour so dear, shall be disappointed. Wherefore, fight each of you in turn; and let King Theseys fight first. And, if so be that no Odysseys is left in life to fight loud-bellowing Aias and great Hektor in turn, then, indeed, the blame will not be mine.”

But Queen Persephone cried: “Now would it be foul shame to pit a single man, even though he be King Odysseys whom they call Peer of Zeys in Counsel, against three heroes so justly famous in battle, princes renowned throughout all time. Wherefore I, the queen, call for two heroes to fight side by side with King Odysseys, upholding the honour of Queen Persephone protecting him.”

And, almost before the goddess had ceased from speaking, and, while King Hades was yet frowning in perplexity, Argive Diomedes the well-thewed son of King Tydeys cried: “I will fight cheerfully for the honour of Queen Persephone, and for my ancient friendship with King Odysseys, with whom, by night, I attacked the hardy Thrakians who wear their red hair bunched on the crown of their heads.”

Then, indeed, the mind in my breast rejoiced: for I knew that, with my old comrade Diomedes (a mighty man of war) by my side, many very virtuous and proper deeds would be done against the hostile champions. But, while I wondered who would be my other sword-fellow and shield-friend, the voice of great-hearted implacable Akhilleys declared that his god-forged armour might in no wise go into battle, he being present, unless he himself fought by its wearer’s side. But I knew then that I should not tarry long among the ghosts.

King Hades preened himself at the prospect of bloody war; and, seeing three sons of kings ready to contend with three sons of kings, he made no more ado, but began to embody the shades of these five heroes, furnishing them with bodies and limbs and arms and armour such as they had used in their very prime, when (living) they stamped on the earth the giver of grain.

Now it is not to be thought that I, when I saw such notable magic being done before my eyes, could (or would) refrain from offering also a specimen of my own proficiency. But I determined at once to let King Hades see how great a mage he had been minded to treat thus bitterly, and (at the same time) to comfort my friends and to secure respectful opinions from the inhabitants of the netherworld there present in innumerable multitudes.

Wherefore, seeing the ghosts of those five heroes becoming clothed with live flesh and about to be armed by their proper squires, I nobly refused the service of the Great Twins, star-crowned, when they would have prepared me for the fray. And the eyes of all, from highest to lowest instantly became fixed upon me. But I stood still, summoning certain forces within me, and silently saying the _Spell_ called _The Summons which must be Answered_.

And, forthwith, Thalos my foot-boy (whose life was bound to mine) came from the misty meadows of asphodel, where he and Neandros and my silver chariot were waiting for me. Fearlessly he came, entering the judgment-hall of Hades, thinking of naught but his duty to his lord. And it was very strange to see a mere boy, mortal, but alive and very healthy, wearing his usual sandals and short mantle, running toward me through so vast a throng of naked shades. But the dead all made way for him, being beaten back and most dreadfully worried: for he was (as I was) immune against death by reason of my magic and also by reason of the grace of his own luminous innocence. And, having come to me, he went over the clasps of my armour in the usual manner, saying nothing. But, when he had done his service, he went (at my command) and crouched by the feet of long-robed Helen.

Then, again, I called, calling (this time) as Master.

And forthwith there came in Delphic Phoibos Apollon as Knight of the Sun, and Arkadian Hermes as Knight of East and West and North and South, and lordly Ares as Knight of Kadosh, and Lemnian Hephaistos as Knight of the Brazen Serpent, and Theban Herakles (who, they say, changed wives with Zeys) as Knight of the Sword of the East, all gloriously triumphant, and, also, beardless Dionysos as Noahite Patriarch, and pale Death and dusky Sleep as Princes of Mercy, and immortal Eros as Prince of the Royal Secret, each one giving me the greeting of his own degree. But to them I responded as Master. They seated themselves on the bench with the judges Aiakos, Minos, and Rhadamanthos. And I remember how that the shade of accursed Thersites, humpty-backed, blameless, took a mind-grieving toss from lordly Ares, having presumed (as his wont was) to thrust himself unbidden into the pews of his betters. And inextinguishable laughter arose among the shades, when they saw the staggering unhappiness of that chatterbox Thersites.

But, when all was ready, I took my place, having kissed the still brow of Golden Helen. But the touch of the goddess, though her mien was strange and unresponsive, put strength into my shoulders and knees, and placed in my breast the boldness of a fly, which persists in biting, although often driven away by a mortal man whose blood is its most delicate sweetmeat. For I burned with an insatiable desire for slaying, nor to surcease therefrom till all were gone who stood between me and Golden Helen. For I was in face of her, for pious reasons.

Thus, indeed, were the champions placed: at my side, I had great-hearted Akhilleys on my left, and well-thewed Diomedes on the right: but at the other side, renowned Theseys faced me, and keen Hektor faced Akhilleys, and sacrilegious Aias faced Diomedes. And we were to fight with spears and swords. But my wily revolver was ready to my hand; and long-robed Helen held my black bow, which sang of war and the slaughter of heroes till King Hades gave signal for the onset.

Theseys thrust his spear straight at my best eyelid, terribly shouting: but I raised my shining shield like a flash of white thunder, taking his point full on the god-made boss of it. And the heavenly silver rang true as a bell. But I, stooping, drove up with my own spear, which he (also) took on his shield. But, so mightily had I thrust it, that the head stuck fast in the metal: nor could I tear it again from the grip of his shield. He, then, noisily swang his targe aside, snatching away my weapon. But I dashed in, battering him with my own shield, till he was beaten to his knee. And, while he recollected himself, I drew my sword and lopped off his spear-head, pressing hard with my shield against his, and hewing at his head. But he, cunning, took my strokes on his well-crested helmet, while he fumbled for his sword. Nevertheless, his head must have hummed, for sparks fell thickly on all sides from every blow, as they fall from a red-hot horse-shoe smitten upon an anvil in a winter’s night. And, when once more we were equally armed, we fell to fighting very seriously; and, for a time, neither of us gained an advantage.

But, suddenly, I heard a great sob on my right hand. For well-thewed Diomedes crashed to the ground; and all the netherworld shook at his fall, as a citadel shakes when thumped by a battering-ram. And, at the same time, Aias son of Telamon leaped upon me, masked in blood, and bellowing like a hamstrung bull.

Now, hitherto, notwithstanding the gravity of our combat, neither I nor Theseys had let blood. But, when I saw scarlet Aias coming ravening upon me, and, when I sniffed the delicious odour of a hero’s blood, then, indeed, I accomplished a certain wile. For I feinted downward, to draw the sword of Aias; and, lightening my guard before his eye (half-dimmed with streaming gore) could follow, I lunged upward, plunging my blade like an onion into the bellowing mouth of him, where a wound is particularly painful to a miserable mortal; and awfully my hilt thudded on the bones behind his face, passing right through his head under the brain and bruising the white bones at the back. And his teeth were shivered to splinters; and his two eyes gushed with gore, which he (gaping) made violently to spout also with a bubbling noise from his mouth and from both his ears and nostrils, drenching me with five purple fountains. But his knees relaxed; and he sat down suddenly backward, stretching out his two hands; and Death enveloped him in a pale cloud. In this manner, I lost my sword as well as my spear, being too much occupied to retrieve it from the badly-wrecked face of Aias.

And now one would have said that I was at the mercy of my own enemy: for Theseys all the time did not omit to hack at my head. But I caught his strokes on my shield till it was split in twain, and then upon my crested helmet studded with adamantine crystals and blue moonstones; and his blows were like the blows of a poleaxe wielded by a blooming butcher, or of a sledge-hammer wielded by a lusty smith. But, because I was unarmed and liable to reel giddily under the hero’s onslaught, my noble mind contrived a new wile. And, diving upward under his shield (lest he should wound me in the back), I caught him round the ribs with my long arms, and began to crumple him up. He, indeed, having dropped his shield, smote once on my back: but it was only a half-cut, for my shoulder filled the sweet pit of his sword-arm, preventing him from giving either force or weight unto his effort. Meanwhile, I splintered his crackling ribs one by one, pinching him as ferociously as possible, and wrenching him hither and thither, with a heart full of pure joy, when I felt so renowned a hero as Theseys becoming like a broken basket of entrails in my arms. He, indeed, tried to stab me with his bitter steel, in the intervals when he was neither screeching nor gasping for breath with much hiccoughing. And, anon, having heaved him high above my head, (for he tired me), then I dashed him to the ground, snapping his big backbone with a noise like the quick tearing of linen. But he lapsed limply into a shapeless bundle of broken man; and his last breath shot out with a wet squeak, moistly whistling; and renowned Theseys was once more a shade.

But I sidled away from the carcase, looking toward my left hand, where the two great heroes and masters of perfect swordsmanship were fighting valiantly. And crest-tossing Hektor feigned to slip, half exposing his head: but implacable Akhilleys, for the nonce unwary, brandished his blade for a last terrific blow which should end the battle. But him Hektor overcame, eluding the shield which swang away to the left, and thrusting his own sword through the taslets of the breast-plate deep into the beautiful groin. Nevertheless, the end was not yet. For fierce Akhilleys, though wounded to death, finished the stroke which he had begun. And his sword came down irresistibly on Hektor’s crested helm; and the horse-hair floated away on this side and on that; and the whole casque fell in two halves here and there, like the split shells of a walnut; and the head within, being divided in twain right down to the roots of the throat, flapped upon the shoulders like a halved pomegranate on a sliced stem. In this manner, fell together the two greatest warriors and the two most glorious heroes who ever stamped on the wide-bosomed earth.

But all voices were hushed at the splendour of the sight, grieving that the five famous sons of kings should so soon have ceased from sweet life, again becoming shades. And I, also, stood in silence: for I was still rather dizzy. But, all at once, shady Hades shouted from his throne: “This much-contriving Odysseys again hath tricked us by some magic wile. Ha, Titans, hold him!”

And, on the word, the enormous monsters lumbered in my direction. But all the shades began to gibber like bats, moaning with fear; and the shade of great-hearted Akhilleys became paler with horror, because of King Hades’ treachery. But Thalos, my foot-boy, lithely leaped from crouching at the feet of Golden Helen; and, having snatched my black bow from her (but she gave it willingly), he thrust it into my hand, standing alertly close behind me with my quiver, ready to feed me with arrows. And, in an instant, I bent the great bow to the string, while it sang shrilly with joy, loosing the well-feathered shafts which swiftly hissed down the long hall; and they bit the eyeballs of the titans so that they yelped like whipped whelps in their displeasure, falling as great oaks crash earthward in storms, littering considerable areas.

But, as I sped the winged deaths on their way, I heard a terrible cry from the queen. But I, without turning round to her, was suddenly aware that I was seeing on all sides, both before and behind: for the eyes in my face, fearfully rolling, gazed in front; and, when I drew the string of the bent-back bow to my ear with my right hand, the two eye-chalcedonyxes in the magic ring which Hermes, my grandsire, had placed on my third finger looked out over my shoulder in the rear, warning me of danger from that quarter. And I saw shady King Hades, the most righteous of gods, about to dash out my brain with the gigantic key which fits the locks of hell.

But, leaping aside, I evaded the blameless coward’s blow: but, in escaping from the god, I became far away from Thalos who bore my arrows; and my bow shrieked because I could not use it. Once more, King Hades struck at me; and, once more mightily leaping, I eluded the danger. Moreover, I saw, from the bewildered gestures of the shades, that they understood neither what was going on nor the reason of my marvellous agility. And, then, I perceived that the shady one had donned his cyclopean helmet of invisibility, whereby none but a god’s eyes could see him. But I, being hard pressed, determined to use magic of another kind, such as I had found very efficacious against shady hustlers and bullies when I was a subject of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans. And, first, I praised rustic Pan and wing-footed Hermes, with wildly joyful acclamations: the one for his gift in the touch of fennel on the seashore by Tainaron, whereby I was able to see with the eyes of a god as well as with the eyes of a man, and the other (my grandsire) for his gift of two eyes more than the number allotted to olympians, to say nothing of miserable mortals: for, without these extraordinary faculties, shady Hades would certainly have gotten me again, and for good, and I should have lost Golden Helen for the third and last time.

Wherefore, I plucked out my revolver, as blameless Hades came upon me. He, indeed, had the air of being dreadfully worried, believing himself to be invisible, and yet finding that I was able to dodge him quite successfully. And, having pressed the well-made spring of my weapon with my palm, I pulled the beautiful trigger six times, afflicting the Shady One with a dumdum[49] in each nostril and two in the belly and one in each knee. But he, being a god, was unable to die, even though he had lost his ugly face: but all the same, he was extremely capable of feeling pain; and dreadful pain he felt. Now, as everyone knows, when lordly Ares was wounded by well-thewed Diomedes at the siege of windy Ilion, he hullabalooed (as it is chanted in the canticle) like an army of ten thousand men all mad-drunk with beer. But, King Hades being of the elder generation of the gods, and (therefore) of far vaster bulk than his lusty nephew, the bellowing of nineteen such armies would have been (to the outpouring of his godly griefs and pains) but as the wheezy puling of an infant to the thunder of immeasurable Ocean on a rock-bound coast. For, indeed, the very firmament of the netherworld was riven and cleft asunder by the thuds of his high-stepped capers and contortions, and the bombilation of his vibrant vociferatings to my address.

But I, looking upward through the grateful fissure, saw clear heaven again, and the serenely-sailing Moon, and the glittering constellation of the Crab, and all the holy stars which kindly gaze upon earth-trampling men.

After this manner, did I work notable wiles in the house of blameless Hades.

FOOTNOTES:

[48] This might, perhaps, almost strike some persons as being just a little “thin.” A. H.

[49] I find several English words in this papyrus, written in what we will agree to call Mr. C.’s own hand. A. H.

THE TWENTY-FIRST PAPYRUS

Then, the gods, divine ones inhabiting olympian palaces, whom I had summoned to see how a master-mage under-goes that he may overcome, intervened to protect me from further annoyance. For unspeakable confusion buzzed and boomed throughout all the house of Hades.

For the shades of well-born Theseys and of sandy-haired old Menelaos and of woman-mad Paris were gibbering with rage, seeing that I was free to depart with Golden Helen, the Treasure of Hades, as my spoil. And they shook their angry fingers at me, like fringes in a wind, being quite impotent: but Paris, unable to contain what there was of himself (so abounding was his ire), burst, over and over again, like a bad bubble in my vicinity. And he suddenly frittered away.

But, as I walked with the blessed gods, having Helen the Treasure of Hades beside me, we went to and fro, walking delicately over the monstrous wrigglings of titans, victims of my bow, as men pick their way among earthquakes, lightly leaping hither and thither. But the mind in my breast was contriving new wiles.

Then said Delphic Phoibos Apollon, the Knight of the Sun: “We have tarried long enough in the kingdom of twilight; and I yearn to go back to blazing noon. Return with us, O Master of Wisdom; and be sure of olympian welcomes.”

Then said Arkadian Hermes Psykhopompos, the Knight of East and West and North and South: “Never yet have I led articulately-speaking men out of this place: but rather my business is to bring them hither when they are dead. But very gladly will I bear thee and thine away with swift-winged feet, O Master my child. Return, therefore, with us; and be sure of olympian welcomes.”

Then said Lemnian Hephaistos, the Knight of the Brazen Serpent: “There be many dints and notches in thy silver-shining armour, and many of thy lovely rock-crystals and blue moonstones have been shattered in battle, and what shall we say of thy nodding crest of the prides of nine white peacocks. But, indeed, my fingers itch to have thee in my smithy where I may restore thee. Return, therefore, with us, O Master of Arms; and be sure of olympian welcomes.”

And, in like manner, all the divine ones spoke, very affably.

But white Death and black Sleep, being young, stood modestly aside: for the general rule is that the last may not come to man without an invitation, and that the first may come only at a particular time. And that time for me had not even been discussed by the authorities. For which cause, the pale god moved away, going about more pressing business: but the dark one lingered, lifting his horn of dust to tempt me. But, though I was not unwilling to receive the kindly gift of Sleep, the mind in my noble breast reminded me that many things still remained for me to do. Wherefore I addressed unwinged words to the blessed gods, saying: “Gladly, O divine ones, will I escape from this nasty neighbourhood, and gladly will I visit the height of Olympos, bringing with me Helen the Treasure of Hades, and Love, the Crown of All Wisdom.”

Thus I spoke, as we came forth from the hall into the misty meadows of Asphodel. But, behind us in the House of Hades, we left incalculable pudder and turmoil. For, beside the roars of the wounded, the innumerable shades of all the dead since Cain slew Abel,[50] being worried with pique and jealousy, were pouring themselves out helter-skelter, snuffling in clusters, whimpering and maudling and mumbling, waving themselves all over the place like streamers of seaweed, all in a most embarrassing manner. And it seemed as though my passage would be impeded by them, as by inextricable mazes of cobwebs.

Wherefore, I (to make an end) summoned Thalos, nimbly loaded with my gear by him collected and skipping after me; and of him I inquired whereabouts might be my silver chariot. Who answered me, saying that my squire Neandros was not ceasing from driving about the asphodeline meadows, being unseen, and keeping alert for my call: yet he knew not precisely where the chariot might be at the moment. And he mentioned his opinion that Neandros would be glad of a meal, not because he was dying of hunger as another youth would have died, famished (for his life was bound to my life, so that he lived while I lived), but just because it was the custom of mortals to eat at intervals. And inextinguishable laughter arose among the immortal gods when they heard the apt speech of my foot-boy.

Then, the Great Twins, impatient of delay, moved to the other side of their golden sister, as though to protect her from the mobs of gibbering shades: but I, on my part, uttered the _Spell_ called _The Call Which Must Be Answered_; and, instantly, Neandros drove my silver-shining chariot toward us out of the imperscrutable mist. But the gods, when they saw that I was furnished with so suitable a vehicle with its equipage of four mad stallions of the divine breed of Laomedon, departed, flying up earthward through the riven roof of the netherworld, and thence onward to the height of Olympos. Thus the gods themselves were my heralds.

But I placed Golden Helen (divine one of the goddesses) beside Neandros in the chariot; and, when Thalos had mounted in the rear placing his beautiful bundle on the silver floor, I, also, was about to ascend to my place: but a very fearful occurrence delayed me. For the shade of woman-mad Paris, partly embodied again, darted toward us out of the mist; and his sufficiently-solid hand had been armed by shady Hades with the sword of dead Hektor his brother. Now had I been blameless Hades in these circumstances, I would have embodied the shade of Hektor and employed him as my assassin rather than the feeble and fatuous Paris: but Hades was not at all wily. And the woman-mad one ran, gibbering frightfully, leering like a lunatic who after long seeking has found; and he, squealing (for his throat was not quite firmly finished), slashed as he passed with his blade at my harness, so that the snow-white leathern thongs were divided, and the reins fell severed from the hands of my charioteer. But the horses went madder, bounding upward; and careered (trace-free) to their native pastures in the rolling heavens, leaving us half-blinded by their hoof-sparks and (so to speak) fixed immoveably below. And, every moment, the mobs of malignant ghosts surrounding us became more impertinently menacing.

But I, having won the Crown of All Wisdom (which is Love), and the Treasure of Hades (which is Golden Helen), and being unwilling to forego the enjoyment of my beautiful spoils, and remembering the word which Hermes had said by my altar on black Tanairon, lifted up my voice very loudly indeed, uttering the most mighty but two of all spells. And thus I said: “Hear, O oldest and youngest of all the blessed gods, sweet one, sly one, dire one, winged one, blind one, arch-archer, lord of unquenchable flame, thou who art somewhere in the rich state of heaven or on the grain-giving earth, for thou everywhere canst see and hear a man in affliction, hear now, and aid me in my need. Come, Love, come.”

And, instantly, through the gigantic fissure yawning overhead, came the sound of merry childish laughter. And Divine Eros dived out of the darkness like a flash of ruddy lightning, folding his white wings to stand before us, lifting the bandage from his sparkling eyes to warm us with their radiance. And we, who had been shivering with ghostly cold and bound to the soil of hell a moment before, felt all our limbs a-thrill with life and joy and in our hearts a splendour at the coming of the bird of the gods. For he, indeed, was a very large and lovely boy, slim, and rounded, and so ruddy that his form had scarce been known within a fiery furnace of clear flame: but, when we saw the freedom with which he flung abroad his sprightly limbs, and his quick incessant movements, it was clear that he could have no rival in energy or strength. And, while we gazed, he was darting here and there, peering into my silver chariot’s secret parts, having pulled out the pole and cast it away for inquisitive ghosts to sniff at and mumble. And even I stood amazed: for, notwithstanding my magic, I had not suspected that such marvels could be as those which Love laid bare. For, here, he pressed certain beautiful knops carven on the panels; and, forthwith, lids opened in the silver floor, whereunto he wept copious torrents of wet tears, because of foolish men; and, having closed the lids, he shewed us his ruddy young face wreathed with laughter. And, there, he ran his fingers over the bosses of other silver panels inlaid with crabs and moons in mother-of-pearl; and other lids opened; and a fragrance as of smooth oil was wafted in the air. But all this, and very much more, was done in a moment of time.

And Love urgently charged us to mount to our places: but he was sprawling on his supple back, underneath, between the well-carved wheels, and belching streams of heavenly fire from his rose-red lips. But we four mounted, and clung to the rail: for the mighty chariot was beginning to hum and pulsate like a creature having life, so that (though I was not afraid, but rather exultant with joy unspeakable), I made the _Sign of Safety_ from height to depth and from here to there, which is the test and the touchstone and the palladium of all white magic.

But the immortal god arose, sweeping the air once with his great white wings; and he swooped upward, diving into the very image of himself, larger than life, blindfolded, naked, most alluringly proportioned, which stood poised on the front of the rail, winged, and ready to fly. And the whiteness and ruddiness of Eros totally disappeared in the silver image of him, nor was the silver any longer hard and still, like silver, but smooth and firm and supple as young flesh, being alive in very fact and altogether godlike in potency.

And the silver Love hooted aloud in mockery of the gibbering shades; and he swept back the air with his winged arms, as a strong swimmer slipping through the wavelets of the innumerable laughter of the ocean,[51] setting all mortal means at naught, needing neither oar nor sail saving his wings, winnowing the winds with those eternal plumes.[52] And the wheels of the chariot whirred astonishingly with the swiftness of our flight toward the fissure in the firmament of hell. But I, looking downward at the fearful ghosts, saw Kastor and Polydeykes catching treacherous Paris by hair and heels and slinging him into fiery Pyriphthlegethon. Awfully scorched was what there was of him when he scrambled out; and the Great Twins left him licking his burns on the bank: but they went back to the house of Hades, to serve the rest of that day in the netherworld for a religious reason, such being their immutable doom.

But the living silver Love bore us upward out of darkness. But I looked upon the walls of the vast chasm as we passed them by; and I saw the depths of rich earth’s bosom all laid bare. Here, were pockets full of white gold or korinthic bronze which is platinum[53] and of gold and of silver and of copper, and of iron, and of gleaming tin. There, were mounds of marble and porphyry and granite. Here, were rivers of chalcedonyx and jasper, and streams of rose-quartz and violet amethyst and rock-crystal and blue moonstone and mysterious green-and-purple alexandrolith. There, were caverns full of buried and forgotten treasures. And, scattered everywhere, like the stars upon the floor of heaven, were very precious stones, in clots, or alone in glittering glory. But, above all these, we passed the pregnant soil of earth the cupboard of mortals, pierced in every direction by the juicy roots of herbs and trees.

I turned my gaze to my dear companions. The stalwart Neandros clung to the rail at the back; and his bold eyes stirred not from the god who had deposed him from his place as charioteer, for he was meditating an unmentioned and unthought-of work, which I will narrate at a suitable time. Thalos crouched on his hams on the floor, clinging with one arm to the straight legs of Neandros, but his other arm steadied the bundle of my gear. And, by my side, stood long-robed Helen, the divine one of goddesses. She was as purely white as the kernel of a nut; and her hair floated behind like a web of woven sunbeams. One gleaming arm round me, and the other on the rail near the feet of the silver Love, held her still. Her head was quiet and happy on my breast. Silent were her lips of coral. Eloquent beyond mortal words were her amber eyes: wherein gazing at my ease, I read of her pride, her meekness, her power, her weakness, her fidelity, her faith, her wisdom, her generosity, her pure unsullied soul, her worship, and her love. What she read in mine, I also know; and, that we two know it, is enough.

We were ascending from twilight to daylight. Not for nothing had those other divine ones gone before, announcing our coming: for the whole world was set agog to behold us. Heavenly breezes rustled down the shaft to refresh us with their clean breath. Little rills of sparkling water trickled over the cleft earth’s lips in haste to greet us. And the forests bowed their green heads, like a canopy, above us flashing through the reft rock, as we reached the kindly-smiling earth once more.

In this pomp, I came triumphantly a third time out of the netherworld, with the Treasure of Hades and the Crown of All Wisdom. And Love himself was my charioteer.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] This is, or might very well be taken to be, an excessively nasty one in the eye for the obsolete delusion once called “Modernism.” A. H.

[51] This ΑΝΡΗΙΘΜΟΝ ΓΕΛΑϹΜΑ is certainly a tag. A. H.

[52] It is hardly conceivable that Dante Alighieri can have lifted these delicious phrases from Mr. C. The whole question is extremely perplexing. A. H.

[53] Oh, really! But this is a little more definite in its dogmatism. A. H.

THE TWENTY-SECOND PAPYRUS

But, when we had come to the beautiful plains of earth, there were spread before our feet (for us to walk upon) pleasaunces of emerald grass studded with jewels of daisies and bluebells and daffodils and buttercups and cyclamen, with swathes of poppies, and with splashes of pure gold crocus dropped straight down from the radiant sun. Then, indeed, I (as a mortal man) found a fit time when I might give way to human weakness: for a man who does godlike deeds must pay a price. And, because my head swam with weariness, and because every part of me ached from my sunned skin to my white bones, and because every sense of me was sickened by the slime and corrupt blood of hellish menials wherewith I was crusted from crest to sandals, then, I longed to be visited by barbers and clean slaves, and, also, I had a keen remembrance of the willing and alluring look which the young god with the horn of eye-closing dust had shot at me by shady Hades’ hall, seeming to ask for an invitation. But I thought on these things particularly, as (with Golden Helen) I paced a soft meadow bloomed of violets and parsley, breathing the sweet air.

And Golden Helen perceived how it was with me: for two (who love) are one. Beside, being a woman, she needed but a single service from me, to wit, that I should never leave untold the never-to-be-outworn story of my love for her; and that (to me) was no toil, but a pleasure perennial. And, for the rest, she (the one woman of women and the divine one of goddesses) had no other joy than that of caring for her lover. Wherefore, she sat down on a thymy bank in the shade of a may-bush: but I reclined by her side. Thus, we rested, during a little while, watching the slaves beginning to clear my chariot and my gear: for a cheerful brook ran by the place, sparing enough water for their work, but not enough for the cleansing of a man as well. But I intended, after resting, to seek a site apart, for my own embellishment. And, while these things were being done, a remarkable portent and a signal favour of a god were manifested, which I will at once narrate.

For, when we emerged from the fissure in the earth whereby we evacuated the abysm, it clapped-to behind us, just as did that other gulph which formerly yawned for showy Curtius in the forum of Rome.[54] And the living silver Love, my charioteer, folded his wings, while we paused to breathe the upper air. But when we sat down to rest upon the thymy bank, his clear young voice, with a shout of laughter, called us by name. But we, starting, looked toward the sound; and the silver Love, poised all alive on the front of the chariot, bade us to come near and observe him closely. Thus we did; and the large volatile boy turned on his hips, spreading his quivering wings to balance himself; and he shewed us (and we perceived it) that he was girded about the reins with a fine silver chain, the two taslets whereof dangled down behind him as far as the rail of the chariot. And thus he chirruped: “Lady of Love, and Lord of the Lady of Love, give me leave to make other lovers happy in the intervals. But call me to serve you when you will, pulling the chain this way or that, having enslaved me and bound me to you by unbreakable fetters at present unseen.”

And, with the word, the god returned to his position, poising himself as before with wide-spread wings. But he came (a large boy’s form of flesh, ruddy and white as roses, slender and splendidly rounded), out of the silver leaving his image behind him. And, leaping free with far-flung limbs and strongly-waving arms, he stretched himself out at length, swimming in the higher air out of our sight.

But my head began to whirl faster and faster. I saw Neandros and Thalos arising after they had adored the blooming god, and I felt that Golden Helen was conducting me again to the thymy bank. And, coming nearer, I heard the sweet sound of a syrinx of pipes, and the bushes rustled as though some divine one were approaching. But, instantly, the divine of goddesses cried out, saying: “Oh Pan! O obliging Pan!”

But the country-god pushed aside the branches, peering at us from the screen of green leaves, being shy in the quivering sunshine of noon. And, when he saw who we were, he came forth and greeted us; and he led us through the may-bushes to a little grove, on the bank of a deep stream, with a waterfall and a pool, and mossy-soft couches of moly in the shade, all of which (I believe) he invented at the moment. And, having gathered handfuls of the herb All-heal, knowing Pan eased me of my dinted armour: but fair Helen bathed me, and she bound the magic herb on my bruised and weary limbs. Then, indeed, I summoned benign Sleep, while Pan piped me a simple rustic ballad very soothing to the mind.

And there, in the grove, we rested during several days. For I contrived a new wile, which was that I would not hurry on my journey to lofty Olympos, but rather delay a little: for an unwilling guest has the greater honour. Moreover, I did not wish to appear before the blessed gods in a squalid or a sordid guise, but rather as a personage more accustomed to giving than to receiving, since I was actually a suppliant to great Zeys for the hand of his daughter; and it is the custom of gods and men to give the best gifts to well-seeming mortals. For which causes, I took my fill of rest, so that my strength returned, while my slaves (in the neighbouring glade) polished my arms and my chariot as best they might, to make a respectable appearance. For magic is waived before Pan, and men must depend entirely on their natural powers in his presence unless the god himself suggests otherwise.

But, by chance, Hermes (my grandsire), passing by on a message, espied us one day; and he stayed his flight while he spoke with us. He said that there was much talk on the height of Olympos, because of our absence, and because the divine ones (witnesses of my acts in the house of shady Hades) had entered into a compact one with another to keep silence on those matters, so that the whole areiopagos of heaven might hear them (if I so willed) from my own mouth. Which was a very pleasant hearing for me; and, indeed, I thought it extremely nice and delicate on the part of the gods. But I answered Hermes meekly enough, saying that it was not for me, a mortal, to enter heavenly dominions in a manner unworthy of my grandsire. And my wile proved to be an excellent one. For Hermes, having had a word with kindly Pan, fled (swift-footed) away, presently returning with slow-footed Hephaistos and a portable smithy. For Hephaistos, being proud of the armour which he made for the son of silver-footed Thetis, was unwilling that the hands of slaves should renew its splendour. But when his forge was set up, in the neighbouring glade, the divine artificer (out of admiration for me) deigned to employ Neandros and Thalos as his assistants instead of a parcel of kyklops of immoderate unsightliness: more, also, he let them learn several very important tricks of his trade, when he observed that they were intelligent workmen of ingenious and reverend mind. Such mortals, as a matter of fact, do the gods usually select, when imparting knowledge of the arts.

Thus, then, we passed the time, living on cheeses and nuts and blackberries and dandelions with the luscious milk of incontinent goats of amiable demeanour, while I continued to repose myself, cared-for by the divine one of goddesses and cheered by old Pan. He, indeed, entertained me vastly with stories of the youth of the world, when Great Zeys lay hid in Krete and the older gods were yet unborn; and, at other times, he attuned his reedy pipes intonating quaint songs of the woodlands. And once, while long-robed Helen slept in the heat of the day, the knowing old god persuaded some dryads to come out of the oak-trees in the grove to fan away the flies when I was dozing: but he himself sat among the reeds not far away, chatting with the cheerful little brown and silver river. They were very slim young girls (these dryads), with flesh as white as an acorn-kernel, with long smooth hair of the colour of oak-bark, and shy green eyes of the colour of oak-leaves, and excessively modest and timid of disposition. But, when fair Helen awakened from sleep, and spied the industrious little creatures, her sweet face flushed like rosy dawn, and she frightened the shy nymphs quite away by her bleak mode of thanking them for their care of me. Nor was I puffed with vanity: for I am not the only complacent mortal who has been an occasion of jealousy to a goddess.

But, at another time, while sweet Helen was washing her robes in the pool, rustic Pan took leave to inform me (as a friend) of her history during the previous ten centuries. And I will say that Pan was the only one of all the blessed gods who did not ascribe my own stories about myself, and about my future life in the kingdom of Victory queen of the stalwart stately Anglicans, to some one or other of my usual altogether-unexpected wiles. But Pan knows all. And he told me how that (when I fell dead in my former chariot, from the arrow of unknowing Telegonos), my son and that awful goddess Kirke’s, in Egypt, more than a thousand years before, then, the divine one of goddesses, Helen, had behaved very queerly indeed: for she shewed as much grief as though she herself had caused my demise. Pan said that many persons called her grief remorse: which is absurd. But, having vowed herself anyhow to my memory, she prepared to wander through time, mourning, until my coming again. And heroes and kings’ sons without number sought her in marriage: whom having scorned fearfully (as far as so gentle a creature could scorn), she retired to find commodious seclusion on lofty Olympos. But, there, a certain Kyknos, a son (they say) of far-darting Phoibos Apollon, persuaded that god to demand her for him from Great Zeys. But the father and king of gods and men only confirmed (with a nod) the maiden’s right of choice. Thereat, blameless Kyknos would have taken her by force, following the custom of Olympians: but her brothers, Kastor the tamer of horses and Polydeykes the pugilist, beat on his nose so very bitterly, that beef-eating Herakles wakened from slumber adding his shouts to the tumult. Which having been explained to him, he promptly tossed Kyknos to earth from lofty Olympos, breaking him. And Phoibos Apollon felt it incumbent upon him to take up the cause of Kyknos and to be extremely prepotent about it. But Great Zeys, upset by cow-eyed Hera (most righteous of goddesses), shrouded himself in black clouds, having decreed that the fragments of broken Kyknos must stay below to satisfy Golden Helen, and that she (the divine one of goddesses) must not stay above, being a cause of disorderly conduct among the young gods. But Phoibos Apollon collected the pieces of Kyknos, as many as he could find, wherewith he made a new swan (that lickerish fowl) entirely black.[55] But Golden Helen, debarred from the height of Olympos, and her honour in peril from hairy men down below, betook herself further, even to the profundity of the netherworld, where the gods were austere, and men but senseless shades, phantoms of men worn out. And there she lived in exile, all for the sake of me, divested of godlihood, enduring ten centuries of sorrow, the inevitable penance for the glowing glory of her immortal inmarcesible youth.