The weird of the wanderer Being the papyrus records of some incidents in one of the previous lives of Mr. Nicholas Crabbe
Martial, VIII. 50: Sil. It., I. 229: Stat. _Thebaid_: Juv. _Sat._
xiiii. Serenus Samm. _De Uenenis_: Serv. _Georg._: Lamprid. _Heliog._
_Cf._ also Aristophanes’ _Knights_, and Sophokles’ praise of the White
Metal (ἐλέκτρον) of Sardis with gold of India. But, even now I see no
particular connection (excepting in Mr. Crabbe’s mind) between modern
platinum (which only exists, I am told, in the other hemisphere), and
the undeniable White Metal (which the ancients called Elektron or
Korinthic Bronze) which disappeared, I conceive, in the earthquake
ingulphing the lost Atlantis. The problem is a sadly distracting one.
A. H.
[35] Hitherto we have been led to believe that Akhilleys’ armour was
golden, not silvern as here emphatically stated. Perhaps our error
is due to the lamentable fact that all our classical texts have been
edited by tasteless and not highly scrupulous Dutchmen, so far. I just
throw out the suggestion. A. H.
THE THIRTEENTH PAPYRUS
When white Dawn was come, I left the small Pharos behind. Sihor had
become brackish; and a favourable breeze drove us out on to the
unvintaged sea. My galley was indeed meet for a king: for all her
fitments were of cedar inlaid with silver and mother-of-pearl. Her
food-service also was of well-chased ephesian silver; and her sail
and her awnings were of thick white silk with vermilion bordures and
fringes. Furthermore, my master-mariner, Deythes son of Kimon of Naxos,
was an honest man, an islander, as well as a mariner of much favour
with the Divine Ones who inhabit olympian palaces; and he had never
lost a ship. Wherefore, being aware that my equipage was quite worthy
of me and of my destiny, I was glad.
But, when I came to ponder Amenemhat’s last prediction, I could not
understand it; and it behoved me to understand it very speedily, in
order that I might contrive new wiles and suitable: for, at the moment,
I was sailing the open sea without a notion as to my destination.
For which cause, I tried my crystal orb of divination: but I saw
nothing therein. But, having next refreshed my memory concerning the
things which Thalos (who had been Yokkho) saw in the palm-mirror,
I read in my note-book these words: _The silver god, in the ship,
speaking with the azure-haired god on the white horses._ And that I
might know more about this azure-haired god on the white horses, of
whom the innocent eager slave had spoken, I performed the rite of the
palm-mirror a second time, having summoned clear-eyed Thalos to me. But
he saw nothing in the ink, though he gazed into it and sweated till he
swooned from sheer exhaustion. But I was aware, having restored him and
having given him to be treated tenderly, that a far greater magic was
necessary to explain his utterance and the utterance of Amenemhat, to
wit: _The silver god, in the ship, speaking to the azure-haired god, on
the white horses, and From the Depths of the Dead thou shalt win back
the Treasure of Hades._ And, when the mother of Dawn, rosy-fingered
Morning, was about to come again, bringing light to mortals and
immortals, then my galley was alone upon the bluish-grey-green sea.
But I was resolved to try the _Rite of Thalattomancy_, which is most
efficacious; and it may only be performed by a master and prince of the
highest degree and most secret initiation and by a sacred ruler of the
innermost light. To which end, I caused Nile-water and other proper
apparatus to be placed on the lofty poop; and I made a proclamation to
my crew, lest curiosity should overcome fear and obedience, that death
in shreds (lasting some hours) would be the lot of an interruptor of
my solitude in the sight of all. And, having bathed and arrayed myself
in my silver panoply, I opened the rite.
Within the square of four pentagons, I drew the four concentric
circles with white chalk on the lofty poop-deck, filling them with the
proper names. Within these, I drew also the double circle for ebb and
flow. And, within the last, I placed a dish of offerings to the seven
sea-gods and the silver divination-cup brimming with Nile-water. But
I stood between them, wearing the symbols of the Crab and the Moon:
for the Crab is a watery sign, and the Moon is the Governess of the
Sea. And, having called on the gods of the sea and the moon to be
propitious, I burned aloes in a brazier, and I chanted the _Spell_
which releases the souls of the drowned from their torments in the
netherworld, providing the forms of birds for clothing them, and
treating them to a taste of fresh air, so that (with their wings) they
might veil the apparition of a favouring sea-god, an aboundingly holy
awful sight not to be viewed excepting by initiates, as it is written:
_It is not necessary for the novice to believe anything, but only to
sacrifice his little pig._
But the cries of my birds, rejoicing in freedom for an hour, came
nearer and nearer; and they circled round me closely and more closely,
till I seemed to be enclosed in a pillar like a cylinder of whirling
wings. And, at the moment of sunrise, the spirits of the moon came
knocking at the gates of the waves to summon the divine ones of
the sea. But those spirits were of a great and full body, soft and
phlegmatic, of colour like a cloud, black, morbid, obscure, having
swelling countenances and aspects ready to melt away like an exceeding
great rain about the circles. And their particular shapes were a king
like an archer riding on a doe, and a little boy, and a woman-hunter
with a bow and arrows, and a cow, and a little doe, and a vermilion and
silver garment, and many white horses having finny feet.
Then, I seized the cup of divination by both handles, crying aloud the
magic _Spell_, and saying:
“_Let him come in the boat. And the name of the boat is Assembler of
Souls._
“_Let him come with the oars. And the name of the oars is Making The
Hair To Stand On End._
“_Let him come from the hold. And the name of the hold is Good._
“_Let him come by the rudder. And the name of the rudder is Making
Straight For The Middle._
“_Let him come with the mariners. And the name of the mariners is The
Divine Ones Who Have Found Their Faces._
“_Let the master-mariner come. And the name of the master-mariner is
The Divine One Who Has Never Lost His Face._”
And I held out the cup of divination over the sea, flinging the
water of sacred Sihor in a hemicycle of crystal drops as far as I
could reach. But the cloud of birds moved away with it; and hovered
above a billow with an agitated crest, which they surrounded with
innumerably-feathered pinions. Whereby I was aware that a godlike form
was manifesting himself in that direction. And, the dawn being fully
come, I recited the _Invitation to the gods of the sea_, using the
tongue of the gods.
Then, the answer arrived, very thin and clear, like a cock-crow
far away in the stillness of a desert-night, saying: _Receive the
azure-haired Earth-shaker from the sea_.
And the breeze instantly moaned and died; and the waves ceased from
lapping against my galley. And my sea-birds made a great confusion
in the awful calm, filling it with flashing pinions and plaintive
whimperings, and settling into the shape of a dome all formed of
beating wings, in which I on my ship and the tridentiferous god of the
sea were enclosed, face to face.
The floor of the temple of this blessed vision was the marbled water
of the rushing sea, frozen mute and motionless with awe. Throned
upon white horses ramping along a curling-crested billow, was the
form of wide-ruling sea-stilling earth-shaking Poseidon, king of the
ocean, with his court of white-bodied nymphs of the sea attended by
scaly tritons. And King Poseidon said: “Much is permitted to thee, O
god-beloved Odysseys. For even I, forgetful of our ancient feud, am
here to warn thee that severe ordeals of thine endurance are ordained.
And my rede to thee is that thou speed to Delphi, there to have sure
news of thy quest from the priestess of the Radiant Pure One: for we of
the sea are ignorant of what may be intended.”
Thus he spoke; and forthwith the vision dived in deep waters, splashing
awfully in disappearing. But I was left alone upon the lofty poop.
Wherefore, having summoned Deythes, my shipman, I gave him his course;
and, afterward, I rested, for magic is much more wearisome than war.
In this manner, I learned that the sea-gods at least were propitious
to me, and (also) that I was to go to the shrine of Phoibos Apollon at
Delphi, there to receive an oracle and a Pythian revelation.
But, when we had passed Patrai and were making Kirrha (which was the
port of Delphi on the Korinthic Gulph), it seemed good to me to prepare
a gift, meet to be given by me, a priest and a king, to the domestic
prelate of Pythian Phoibos Apollon. For which cause, I took stock of
the treasure wherewith Amenemhat had loaded my galley. And indeed it
was a generous and a godlike treasure. For there were wedges of virgin
gold, weighty, plastic, red as the hair of a lovely girl of Altino of
the Heneti, with great cut gems in leathern sacks, and vases and lamps
of Korinthic bronze (which is platinum)[36] wrought about with foliage,
and tripods of burnished gold fit to stand with those which limping
Hephaistos made for himself, and chryselephantine images of gods the
work of Pheidias and Praxiteles and Lysippos, and bales of tissues
of silver and gold and vermilion, with other treasures innumerable.
Moreover, there was a gigantic chariot all of silver, inlaid with crabs
and moons in mother-of-pearl; and the spokes of its wheels were images
of the heroes, mighty men of old, wine-companions and sword-friends
of me when we beleaguered woman-mad Paris and his Phrygians before
the walls of windy Ilion. And, poised upon the front of the rail of
the silver-shining chariot, there was a silver image of Love, larger
than life, blindfolded, naked, most alluringly proportioned, and his
well-winged arms were spread abroad in the very act of taking flight.
And there were four white horses, a well-matched team, to go before the
chariot for the sake of custom: but their harness and caparisons were
of white leather with adornments of silver.
Thus, then, I prepared myself for pursuing my quest on land.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] I sadly fear that we must be content to take Mr. C.’s word for
it. All the same, one can’t help feeling a little exasperated at his
reiterated emphasis of his statement, and at one’s own utter ignorance
of his real reason for being so insistent on a point which one is
perfectly unable to dispute or even to discuss. A. H.
THE FOURTEENTH PAPYRUS
But, when we reached Kirrha, having harboured my galley suitably, I
went on to Delphi with Neandros and Thalos and nine trusty-looking
slaves, who carried a part of my treasure. But we were all disguised
in sordid garments; and the treasure was concealed in filthy wallets:
for I was prepared with a wile. For, indeed, I was willing enough, and
even glad to offer gifts propitiatory to the Far-Darter, lest he still
should cherish his ancient rancour against me: for time is of small
account to the gods, but hatred may be an open fester for ever. But,
nevertheless, I (being myself a priest) did not intend to be skinned by
priests of the Lord (of the Silver Bow), nor was I ready to let them
suck me dry, as a fly is sucked by assiduous spiders. For the good
shepherd only shears his sheep, leaving the skinning of them to the
butcher.
Thus, then, I came to the fane in the laurel-grove; and I counted the
glittering shields there while waiting for my turn: for there were many
suppliants that day, seeking an oracle, and giving gifts of red gold.
And, anon, the warden of the treasury, the most righteous of men with