Hermes smiled ironically, and would have rubbed his hands for joy under cover of his robe if he had not held in his right hand the caduceus.
In the mean while the golden-haired woman took a new tablet and began to write on it. Her divine lips were disclosed and her voice whispered; it was like the sound of Apollo"s lyre.
"The member of the Areopagus Melanocles for the bread for two months, forty drachmas and four obols; let us write in round numbers forty-six drachmas. By Athena! let us write fifty; my husband will be satisfied!
Ah, that Melanocles! If you were not in a position to bother us about false weight, I never would give you credit. But we must keep peace with that locust."
Apollo did not listen to the words. He was intoxicated with the woman"s voice, the charm of her figure, and whispered:
"This one or none!"
The golden-haired woman spoke again, writing further:
"Alcibiades, for cakes on honey from Hymettus for Hetera Chrysalis, three minae. He never verifies bills, and then he once gave me in Stoa a slap on the shoulder--we will write four minae. He is stupid; let him pay for it. And then that Chrysalis! She must feed with cakes her carp in the pond, or perhaps Alcibiades makes her fat purposely, in order to sell her afterwards to a Phoenician merchant for an ivory ring for his harness."
Again Apollo paid no attention to the words--he was enchanted with the voice alone and whispered to Hermes:
"This one or none!"
But Maya"s son suddenly covered the house, the apparition disappeared, and it seemed to the Radiant Apollo that with it disappeared the stars, that the moon became black, and the whole world was covered with the darkness of Chimera.
"When shall we decide the wager?" asked Hermes.
"Immediately. To-day!"
"During her husband"s absence she sleeps in the store. You can stand in the street before the door. If she raises the curtain and opens the gate, I have lost my wager."
"You have lost it already!" exclaimed the Far-darting Apollo.
The summer lightning does not pa.s.s from the East to the West as quickly as he rushed over the salt waves of the Archipelago. There he asked Amphitrite for an empty turtle-sh.e.l.l, put around it the rays of the sun, and returned to Athens with a ready formiga.
In the city everything was already quiet. The lights were out, and only the houses and temples shone white in the light of the moon, which had risen high in the sky.
The store was dark, and in it, behind a gate and a curtain, the beautiful Eryfile was asleep. Apollo the Radiant began to touch the strings of his lyre. Wishing to awake softly his beloved, he played at first as gently as swarms of mosquitoes singing on a summer evening on Illis. But the song became gradually stronger like a brook in the mountain after a rain; then more powerful, sweeter, more intoxicating, and it filled the air voluptuously.
The secret Athena"s bird flew softly from the Acropolis and sat motionless on the nearest column.
Suddenly a bare arm, worthy of Phidias or Praxiteles, whiter than Pantelican marble, drew aside the curtain. The Radiant"s heart stopped beating with emotion. And then Eryfile"s voice resounded:
"Ha! You b.o.o.by, why do you wander about and make a noise during the night? I have been working all day, and now they won"t let me sleep!"
"Eryfile! Eryfile!" exclaimed Silver-arrowed. And he began to sing:
"From lofty peaks of Parnas--where there ring In all the glory of light"s brilliant rays The grand sweet songs which inspired muses sing To me, by turns, in rapture and praise-- I, worshiped G.o.d--I fly, fly to thee, Eryfile! And on thy bosom white I shall rest, and the Eternity will be A moment to me--the G.o.d of Light!"
"By the holy flour for sacrifices," exclaimed the baker"s wife, "that street boy sings and makes love to me. Will you go home, you impudent!"
The Radiant, wishing to pursuade her that he was not a common mortal, threw so much light from his person, that all the earth was lighted.
But Eryfile, seeing this, exclaimed:
"That scurrilous fellow has hidden a lantern under his robe, and he tries to make me believe that he is a G.o.d. O daughter of mighty Dios!
they press us with taxes, but there is no Scythian guard to protect us from such stupid fellows!"
Apollo, who did not wish yet to acknowledge defeat, sang further:
"Ah, open thine arms--rounded, gleaming, white-- To thee eternal glory I will give.
Over G.o.ddess of earth, fair and bright, Thy name above immortal shall live.
I kiss the dainty bloom of thy cheek, To thy l.u.s.trous eyes the love-light I bring, From the ma.s.ses of thy silken hair I speak, To thy beauty, peerless one, I sing.
White pearls are thy ruby lips between-- With might of G.o.dly words I thee endow; An eloquence for which a Grecian queen Would gladly give the crown from her brow.
Ah! Open, open thine arms!
"The azure from the sea I will take, Twilight its wealth of purple shall give too; Twinkling stars shall add the sparks which they make, And flowers shall yield their perfume and dew.
By fairy touch, light as a caress, Made from all this material so bright, My beloved rainbow, in Chipryd"s rich dress Thou shalt be clothed by the G.o.d of Light."
And the voice of the G.o.d of Light was so beautiful that it performed a miracle, for, behold! in the ambrosian night the gold spear standing on the Acropolis of Athens trembled, and the marble head of the gigantic statue turned toward the Acropolis in order to hear better.
Heaven and Earth listened to it; the sea stopped roaring and lay peacefully near the sh.o.r.e; even the pale Selene stopped her night wandering in the sky and stood motionless over Athens.
And when Apollo had finished, a light wind arose and carried the song throughout the whole of Greece, and wherever a child in the cradle heard only a tone of it, that child became a poet.
But before Latona"s son had finished his divine singing, the angry Eryfile began to scream:
"What an a.s.s! He tries to bribe me with flowers and dew; do you think that you are privileged because my husband is not at home? What a pity that our servants are not at hand; I would give you a good lesson! But wait; I will teach you to wander during the night with songs!"
So saying she seized a pot of dough, and, throwing it through the gate, splashed it over the face, neck, robe, and lyre of the Radiant.
Apollo groaned, and, covering his inspired head with a corner of his wet robe, he departed in shame and wrath.
Hermes, waiting for him, laughed, turned somersaults, and twirled his caduceus. But when the sorrowful son of Latona approached him, the foxy patron of merchants simulated compa.s.sion and said:
"I am sorry you have lost, O puissant archer!"
"Go away, you rascal!" answered the angry Apollo.
"I shall go when you give me Lampecja."
"May Cerberus bite your calves. I shall not give you Lampecja, and I tell you to go away, or I will twist your neck."
The Argo-robber knew that he must not joke when Apollo was angry, so he stood aside cautiously and said:
"If you wish to cheat me, then in the future be Hermes and I will be Apollo. I know that you are above me in power, and that you can harm me, but happily there is some one who is stronger than you and he will judge us. Radiant, I call you to the judgment of Chronid! Come with me."
Apollo feared the name of Chronid. He did not care to refuse, and they departed.
In the mean time day began to break. The Attic came out from the shadows. Pink-fingered dawn had arisen in the sky from the Archipelago. Zeus pa.s.sed the night on the summit of Ida, whether he slept or not, and what he did there no one knew, because, Fog-carrying, he wrapped himself in such a thick cloud that even Hera could not see through it. Hermes trembled a little on approaching the G.o.d of G.o.ds and of people.
"I am right," he was thinking, "but if Zeus is aroused in a bad humor, and if, before hearing us, he should take us each by a leg and throw us some three hundred Athenian stadia, it would be very bad. He has some consideration for Apollo, but he would treat me without ceremony, although I am his son too."
But Maya"s son feared in vain. Chronid waited joyfully on the earth, for he had pa.s.sed a pleasant night, and was gladsomely gazing on the earthly circle. The Earth, happy beneath the weight of the G.o.ds" and people"s father, put forth beneath his feet green gra.s.s and young hyacinths, and he, leaning on it, caressed the curling flowers with his hand, and was happy in his proud heart.
Seeing this, Maya"s son grew quiet, and having saluted the generator, boldly accused the Radiant.