THOT
 
 
 ■MH 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 S^f/^y^^Ar
 
 Some Opinions of the Press on the 
 First Edition of this Work. 
 
 " The beauty of ' Thoth ' is that you never have the faintest idea 
 what will happen next. This is the glory of romance, to keep up the 
 
 reader's curiosity from page to page But what could hardly be 
 
 bettered is the veiled yet awful picture of the women, the mothers 
 of the ruling race in this wonderful city The central aud vivi- 
 fying idea is, to us, absolutely novel." — Saturday Review. 
 
 " 'Thoth' has imagination, delicacy, and finish." — Athenceum. 
 
 " It is admirably written, many of its passages are not likely to be 
 forgotten. " — Graphic. 
 
 " 'Thoth' is a weird and mysterious romance, manifesting unusual 
 literary skill, and displaying no small amount of imagination." — 
 Academy. 
 
 " Very curious and notable little book." — Daily News. 
 
 " The story is one of great power and of the highest imagination. 
 One of the cleverest things of the day." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 "An excellent romance, strongly imagined, and worked out with 
 praiseworthy delicacy and skill." — Scotsman. 
 
 ''The book is full of imaginative beauty of a rare order." — Leeds 
 Mercury. 
 
 " The tale is told with such a wealth of imagination and power of 
 graphic description, that it is not only possible to take a lively in- 
 terest in the fortunes of the heroine, but even difficult to cease fol- 
 lowing them till the last page is reached. "—Guardian. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
 
 T H T H
 
 T H T H 
 
 A ROMANCE 
 
 T II I R D E D I T I X 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWnQI) AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLXXXIX 
 
 All Right* reserved
 
 5)1 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 I gladly avail myself of this occasion to thank 
 my critics for the very friendly reception they 
 have accorded to a book which was issued, in 
 the fullest meaning of the term, anonymously 
 — that is to say, even without the knowledge of 
 a single personal friend. At the same time, I 
 wish to make an explanation which is partly of 
 the nature of a protest. 
 
 Post hoc ergo propter hoc may not always be a 
 fallacy, but it was certainly a mistake on the part 
 of several reviewers of ' Thoth ' to translate it in 
 their haste, " after ' She,' therefore on account of 
 ' She.' ' For, as a matter of fact, ' Thoth ' was 
 di 'signed and in part composed more than twelve 
 years ago. In its present form, however, it has 
 been entirely rewritten. It may interest some 
 
 1C62983
 
 VI PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 of my critics to know the original intention and 
 scheme, and the reasons why I delayed the pub- 
 lication even longer than the classical ninth year. 
 The original idea was philosophical. I wished 
 to illustrate the power of will and intellect 
 working through generations with a definite 
 design, and to show that this power might be 
 used for the most repulsive object. The object 
 I chose for my purpose was the destruction of 
 the whole human race by means of pestilences, 
 with the intention of replacing it with a race of 
 men who had for generations been trained in the 
 exercise of the highest intelligence. The new 
 rule was to be a tyranny of intellect. The orig- 
 inal designer of this scheme was supposed to be 
 an Egyptian, who had discovered a method of 
 suspending animation. His attempt to introduce 
 the government of intellect amongst existing 
 races had failed, and he determined to destroy 
 them, even if it took thousands of years to pre- 
 pare the means. The defeat of the scheme in the 
 original plan was due to the friendship of the 
 latest Thoth for Philetos. Philetos was, in marked 
 contrast to these haters of men, a man whom 
 every one loved, and who was the beau ideal of 
 a philanthropist. Thus the victory over hate 
 in the original plan was gained by friendship.
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Vll 
 
 The reigning Thoth introduced the plague at 
 Athens, and his life was saved by Philetos. 
 Afterwards Thoth attempted on three occasions 
 to kill his friend, fearing the power of his friend- 
 ship. The climax was reached in a scene in 
 which the ancestral Thoth and his descendants 
 were aroused, and the fate of the world was to 
 depend on the decision of the ancient ruler. 
 
 After writing a considerable part of ' Thoth ' on 
 this plan, I became dissatisfied for several reasons. 
 In the first place, friendship alone, though in the 
 ancient world one of the strongest passions, did 
 not seem as I worked it out strong enough for 
 my purpose. I had introduced also, in the last 
 scene, a supernatural element of a purely imag- 
 inary kind, and I heartily disliked the dens cm 
 machind even when of my own making. I also 
 considered the style inflated and the characters 
 far too abstract. The original idea, however, 
 seemed worth developing ; and when I took it up 
 again after an interval of ten years, I substi- 
 tuted Daphne and love for Philetos and friend- 
 ship, and put more of the elements of com- 
 mon humanity into the characters. I discarded 
 the supernatural altogether, for however wonder- 
 ful Thoth's powers are, there is nothing beyond 
 the possibility of modern science. Even the
 
 Vlll PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 destruction of the city in the end is due to the 
 want of a guiding mind. 
 
 I have perhaps said enough to clear myself 
 from the charge, never very hardly pressed, of 
 conscious or unconscious imitation ; but as it 
 may interest some of my readers, I print in an 
 appendix the last chapter as it originally stood. 
 
 THE AUTHOE.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PROLOGUE, ..... 1 
 
 I. THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS, . 5 
 
 II. DAPHNE, ...... 21 
 
 III. NEPENTHE, ..... 34 
 
 IV. THE MIGHT OF SKILL, ... 39 
 
 V. THE MIGHT OF CHANCE, ... 47 
 
 VI. A STRANGE WELCOME, .... 56 
 
 VII THE WONDERS OF THE CITY, . . 65 
 
 VIII. THE DISHONOURED STATUE, ... 73 
 
 IX. THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE, . . 86 
 
 X. THE MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED, 100 
 
 XI. THOTH FORSWEARS HIS OATH, . .116 
 
 XII. A WEARY INTERVAL, . . . .127 
 
 XIII. TRANSFORMATION, . . . .137
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XIV. GREEK AND BARBARIAN, 
 XV. THE DOOM OF THE FIRST THOTH, 
 XVI. THE REVOLT OF NATURE, 
 XVII. GRECIAN GUILE, . 
 XVIII. THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS, 
 XIX. THE VICTORY OF LOVE, 
 XX. THE RETURN TO ATHENS, 
 
 EPILOGUE, .... 
 APPENDIX, .... 
 
 148 
 
 153 
 161 
 167 
 178 
 193 
 199 
 209 
 211
 
 T H T H. 
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 BY THE CELEBRATED PHILOSOPHER AND 
 PHYSICIAN XEXOPHILOS. 
 
 Nothing is more difficult than to separate 
 the true from the false in a narrative in 
 which it is necessary for the most part to 
 rely on the testimony of one person only, 
 and that person a woman whose mind had 
 been shaken by extraordinary perils and 
 vicissitudes. A task so laborious I. shall 
 not attempt, but shall simply set forth in 
 older what Daphne, the daughter of Phi- 
 
 A
 
 z THOTH. 
 
 letos, told me in fragments at various times, 
 although I confess that some things seem in 
 their nature impossible. 
 
 This much, however, I will say for the 
 benefit of posterity, and that it may not be 
 imagined this writing is from beginning to 
 end the figment of a poet's fancy : Daphne 
 was, without question, by far the most 
 beautiful woman of her time, and excited a 
 most violent and extreme passion in some 
 of the wisest and most celebrated Athe- 
 nians, before the events occurred which I 
 am about to record. And I do not think it 
 at all incredible that a man, driven by the 
 madness of his love for her, should be in- 
 duced to sacrifice everything he held most 
 dear. Nor do I think it wonderful, con- 
 sidering the haughty ambition of many of 
 no great worth or power, that a man who 
 had a marvellous genius in making discov- 
 eries of the hidden nature of things, should
 
 PROLOGUE. 3 
 
 try to emulate the might of far - darting 
 Apollo, who in his anger slays people in mul- 
 titudes by the shafts of his plagues and pes- 
 tilences. And if any one should think the 
 conduct of this Egyptian and his ancestors, 
 as manifested in their deeds, altogether con- 
 trary to human nature (as if one should say 
 that doves chased hawks, or any other crea- 
 ture acted in a way quite different from its 
 kind), I would not only remind him of the 
 horrible and perverse sins even of Greeks in 
 former times, but would also ask him to 
 remember that for ages the Egyptians had 
 been soured by a gloomy and cruel super- 
 stition. 
 
 Then, again, as to all the matters which 
 are said to have occurred in Athens, I have 
 made the most careful inquiries, and, even 
 in the most minute particulars, I find that 
 flic testimony of Daphne is confirmed. 
 
 But to him who will be admonished, this
 
 4 THOTH. 
 
 narrative, whether true or false, certainly 
 declares that no human skill or strength of 
 purpose can altogether conquer nature and 
 chance, and may thus serve, like the tra- 
 gedies of our poets, as a notable warning 
 against pride and presumption.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 
 
 In the time of Pericles, as every one knows, 
 Athens attained her greatest glory. Mag- 
 nificent buildings were erected, and in them 
 were placed statues and other ornaments 
 of most exquisite workmanship. Whilst 
 the work was in progress, great encourage- 
 ment was given to foreign merchants, who 
 brought materials of various kinds, and 
 especially ivory and metals. The laws 
 against strangers were in a great measure 
 relaxed, and they were enabled to prosecute 
 their business with as much freedom as the 
 citizens themselves. Even after the out-
 
 b THOTH. 
 
 break of the Peloponncsian war, and when 
 fear of spies and treachery was natural, 
 there was still a great concourse of foreign 
 merchants in the port and the city. 
 
 But an event occurred which soon put 
 to flight all strangers, and made Athens 
 an object of the utmost dread. This was 
 the great plague, of which Thucydides, 
 the son of Oloros, has given a memorable 
 account in his history. 
 
 A most remarkable incident, however, 
 which is the key-stone of this narrative, 
 he has omitted to notice, probably because, 
 being incredible in its nature, he ascribed 
 it to the invention of those whose minds 
 had been affected by the horrors of the 
 scene, and considered it to be unworthy 
 of the dignity of his style and his careful 
 adherence to truth. 
 
 A few days before the outbreak of the
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 7 
 
 plague, a company of merchants, about a 
 score in number, arrived at Athens. They 
 gave out that their native land was Egypt, 
 but they had been trading with many 
 Grecian cities at peace with Athens. They 
 seemed to be extremely wealthy, and their 
 merchandise consisted mainly of ivory and 
 gems. They had also abundance of gold 
 and silver. They acted as if they did not 
 speak or understand the Greek tongue, and 
 always transacted their affairs by means 
 of interpreters. They appeared to be very 
 careless or ignorant in their bargains, often 
 selling their wares for a much less price 
 than, with a little trouble and inquiry, they 
 might have obtained. 
 
 They made no purchases themselves, 
 with one exception, and in this particular 
 they were most fastidious and difficult to 
 please. They showed the greatest anxiety 
 to buy young female slaves, and they excr-
 
 8 THOTH. 
 
 cised the greatest care in the selection. 
 They not only demanded beauty and health, 
 but inquired carefully into their education 
 and abilities. It was generally complained 
 that it was impossible to satisfy the de- 
 mands of the merchants, as they appeared 
 to apply tests which neither the women nor 
 their owners could understand. 
 
 As soon as the plague appeared, which 
 happened first of all in the port, all 
 foreigners, with the exception of these 
 Egyptians, fled away in their ships. They, 
 however, in spite of the dissatisfaction 
 they expressed with the slaves offered for 
 sale, not only lingered on, but appeared 
 to be quite regardless of the dangers of 
 infection. 
 
 Yet, in truth, both the disease and the cir- 
 cumstances of the plague-stricken city were 
 such as to shake the courage of the bravest.
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 9 
 
 For, as the historian narrates, suddenly, 
 without any apparent cause preceding, 
 people who seemed in perfect health were 
 seized with an extreme ache in their heads, 
 and redness and inflammation of the eyes ; 
 then inwardly their throats and tongues 
 grew presently bloody, and their breath 
 became noisome and unsavoury. There- 
 upon followed sneezing and hoarseness, and, 
 not long after, the pain, together with a 
 mighty cough, came down into the breast. 
 As the disease spread, most dreadful weak- 
 ness and, in most cases, strong convulsions 
 ensued. The bodies of the afflicted out- 
 wardly to the touch were not very hot, but 
 inwardly they so burned as not to endure 
 the lightest clothes or linen garment, and 
 they would fain have cast themselves into 
 the cold water. Their thirst was insatiable, 
 and those who were not looked after ran to 
 the wells ; but whether they drank much or
 
 10 THOTH. 
 
 little, they got neither ease nor power of 
 sleep. Many suffered for seven or nine 
 days, and then died of the inner burning, 
 while yet their strength seemed undi- 
 minished ; others survived the torment, 
 and then died of weakness. Some escaped 
 with the loss of their eyes or the extremi- 
 ties of the limbs, and others were so much 
 stricken in mind that they remembered 
 neither themselves nor their acquaintances. 
 And the sickness, and the cruelty where- 
 with it handled each one, far surmounted 
 all expression in words — it was so griev- 
 ous and terrible. 
 
 But the greatest misery of all was the 
 dejection of mind in such as found them- 
 selves beginning to be sick, for they grew 
 presently desperate, and gave themselves 
 over without making any resistance. Many 
 died like sheep affected by mutual visita- 
 tion ; and some, forsaken and forlorn, for
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 11 
 
 want of such as should take care of 
 them. 
 
 The mortality was greatly increased by 
 the crowds of country people who, on 
 account of the war, had come into the city 
 with their goods and chattels, and having 
 no homes, they lived in stifling booths and 
 in tents. Dying men lay tumbling one 
 upon another in the streets, and about 
 every spring and conduit. The temples, 
 also, were full of dead, for, oppressed with 
 the violence of the calamity, and not know- 
 ing; what to do, men Grew careless even of 
 holy things. The laws which they former- 
 ly used touching funerals were all broken. 
 When one had made a funeral pile, another 
 getting; before him would throw in his dead 
 and give it fire. And when one was burn- 
 ing, another would come, and having cast 
 therein him whom he carried, go his way 
 again. Yet up to that time no feeling
 
 12 THOTH. 
 
 amongst the Athenians was more profound 
 than their respect for the dead. 
 
 The city was filled with wailing, horror, 
 and loathsomeness, but in the midst of 
 despair there were frantic outbursts of out- 
 rageous pleasures. Licentiousness was un- 
 bridled, and men grasped at wild delights 
 as if they held their lives but by the day. 
 The rich died, and the poor, who had never 
 dreamed of riches, slipped into their places, 
 and, thinking they had not a moment to 
 lose, made their only aim the speedy fru- 
 ition of their goods. Neither the fear of 
 the gods nor the laws of men awed any 
 man. For it seemed all one, to worship 
 or not to worship, seeing that all alike 
 perished, and no one expected his life 
 would last till he received punishment of 
 his crimes by human judgment. Many 
 thought that the whole city would be de- 
 stroyed, and hastened to enjoy some little
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 13 
 
 part of their lives. Women left their 
 apartments, and, without friends or guard- 
 ians, rushed to the temples or tried to flee 
 from the pestilence beyond the city bounds. 
 For all discipline was broken through, and 
 all did what seemed good to them. 
 
 In spite of these dreadful scenes, the 
 Egyptians showed no signs of haste or 
 alarm, and seemed to regard the terror- 
 stricken people with mingled curiosity and 
 contempt. At first this conduct was as- 
 cribed to the gloomy nature of their reli- 
 gion, and to the fact that in their own 
 cities the plague was said to be never 
 altogether stifled. But gradually a rumour 
 spread that they had in their possession 
 some drug or charm by which they made 
 themselves proof against the pestilence. 
 
 In a short time they were surrounded by 
 a tumultuous tl irons: of men and women.
 
 14 THOTH. 
 
 A deafening outcry arose of threats and 
 entreaties. Some tried to embrace the 
 knees of the merchants, and offered them 
 masses of gold and precious stones ; others 
 shrieked like madmen, " Give us life, — save 
 us ! " Some, on the other hand, tried to 
 terrify them with brandished weapons ; 
 whilst others, hoping more from prayers, 
 threatened the threateners, and assumed 
 the part of defenders of the strangers, ap- 
 pealing to Zeus, the god of hospitality. 
 
 As the tumult grew, and the pressure of 
 the crowd increased, the merchants, speak- 
 ing in an unknown tongue, seemed to ad- 
 dress one who appeared to be their leader, 
 in terms of remonstrance and expostula- 
 tion, mingled, however, with respect and 
 submission. No interpreter could be found, 
 so that no one could understand what was 
 said except vaguely from the looks and 
 gestures of the speakers.
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 15 
 
 Suddenly, the leader made signs as if 
 asking for silence and attention, and a 
 thrill of astonishment passed through the 
 crowd as he began to speak in a language 
 which many of the people could, with a 
 little difficulty, understand. It seemed an 
 ancient dialect of Greek, in most respects 
 like that used by Homer in his poems. 
 
 "Men of Athens," he said, "ye wonder 
 that we seem unmoved in the midst of this 
 dreadful plague, and ye think that we have 
 some charm or drug wherewith we defend 
 ourselves from the infection. But we in- 
 deed are careless, because death by the 
 pestilence seems to us no worse than the 
 doom with which we are threatened if we 
 escape. We come from a country beyond 
 Egypt, and are the descendants of a rem- 
 nant of Greeks who for many generations 
 have been held in honourable captivity by 
 the powerful princes of the land. We have
 
 16 THOTH. 
 
 preserved our own customs, and as ye 
 see, our own language, and we have served 
 as priests to our masters. And often the 
 daughters of our race have been chosen as 
 queens, and till a little time ago everything 
 went well with us. Then certain Greeks 
 appeared, who aroused the envy of our 
 king and his princes by telling of the 
 glories of Athens, and praising, most of all, 
 the beauty and the wit of the Athenian 
 women, and they have sent us, not only 
 to bring back a faithful report of the 
 grandeur of your city, but they have 
 ordered us to bring a number of your most 
 beautiful and best educated maidens, to be- 
 come wives of the king and his nobles. 
 In the meantime they hold those Greeks 
 in captivity, and also our wives and chil- 
 dren, and they have threatened us and 
 them with dreadful punishment if we do 
 not bring back the maidens ; and we
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 17 
 
 thought at first to purchase slaves, but we 
 fear detection, for how can slaves make 
 fitting queens ? But now the plague which 
 has struck down your people seems to offer 
 us some hope of safety. For, perhaps, some 
 of your maidens, being without protectors 
 in this calamity, will themselves be willing 
 to go with us, or their guardians, fearing 
 the worst, will send them. And in token 
 of our good faith, we have brought large 
 stores of precious things to leave with you, 
 and we will bind ourselves with great oaths 
 that the maidens shall be dealt with in the 
 most honourable manner. And as regards 
 this pestilence, we can indeed offer you no 
 certain cure, but we would earnestly warn 
 you, knowing something of the matter by 
 Bad experience s that your only hope of 
 safety is in avoiding crowds, and keeping 
 as much apart as possible. But sec for 
 yourselves the truth of my words." 
 
 B
 
 18 THOTH. 
 
 And as he spoke thus, several persons in 
 the throng were suddenly taken with the 
 plague, and terror seized on the rest, and 
 they broke up and fled. Many of the 
 maidens, however, remained, believing 
 through the extremity of their fear that 
 it was best for them to go with the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 And although it would be easy for any 
 one sitting quietly at home in the enjoy- 
 ment of calm prosperity to consider the 
 tale which they told as unworthy of cred- 
 ence, it was a very different matter under 
 the actual circumstances of the case. And, 
 as will appear in the sequel, there was as 
 much truth as falsehood in the promises, 
 and the falsehood was chiefly of that kind 
 which consists in the suppression of truth. 
 One thing at least was certain, and was 
 calculated to impress the senses. They 
 had undoubtedly a large amount of trea-
 
 THE PLAGUE AND THE MERCHANTS. 19 
 
 sure, of which they seemed quite careless. 
 Besides this, it was known that they had 
 made endeavours to purchase female slaves 
 for their purpose. But, above everything 
 else, the minds even of men of courage and 
 philosophers had been shaken in the terror, 
 and it was natural for young maidens to 
 believe in anything which seemed to prom- 
 ise them a chance of safety from a horrible 
 death. 
 
 In a short time more than thirty of the 
 fairest young women of Athens had prom- 
 ised to go on board the Egyptian vessel; 
 and to these, that no doubt might shake 
 them at the last, the leader told a- thing 
 still more wonderful. He said, with an 
 appearance of the greatest secrecy, that 
 they had a charm by which a small num- 
 ber could be protected against the plague, 
 and that the}' had failed to mention this 
 because its virtue would cease if applied
 
 20 THOTH. 
 
 beyond this small number. Then he 
 painted, in the most glowing language, 
 the delights and pleasures which would be 
 their lot in the distant land. He also 
 proceeded to terrify those whom he was 
 unwilling to take, and the maidens he had 
 chosen began to fear now that others might 
 take their place, and promised to do all he 
 bade them.
 
 21 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DAPHNE. 
 
 Yet, in spite of the promises which the 
 Egyptian made, and the unspeakable terror 
 of the maidens on account of the plague, it 
 is doubtful if they would have consented 
 to go at the last had it not been for 
 Daphne. 
 
 For when the men had fled and most 
 of the maidens, and only those remained 
 whom the stranger had chosen, and to 
 whom he was telling flattering tales in 
 order to take away their dread, Daphne 
 suddenly appeared, having heard of wh.M 
 had taken place.
 
 22 THOTH. 
 
 It chanced that all her family had been 
 taken by the plague, and she was left quite 
 alone, — for, as was well known, she was a 
 native of Miletus. She had been brought 
 by her parents to Athens as a young girl, 
 owing to some political troubles, and was 
 at this time less than twenty years old ; 
 and to make this narrative clear to those 
 of a later time who may chance to read it, 
 something must be said of the character of 
 Daphne before these adventures began. 
 
 First of all, she was strong of will, and 
 rather ruled than obeyed her parents ; and 
 she not only obstinately refused an honour- 
 able marriage, but spoke bitterly of the 
 small esteem and respect in which the 
 Athenians held their lawful wives ; and 
 she upheld as a model Aspasia, her com- 
 patriot, the friend of Pericles, and in all 
 but name his honoured wife. For, whilst
 
 DAPHNE. 23 
 
 the lawful wives of the noblest Athenians 
 were cooped up like children in their own 
 apartments, Aspasia enjoyed perfect free- 
 dom, and was entertained of the brightest 
 wits and the wisest and bravest of Athens ; 
 and she was knit to Pericles with ties of 
 most ardent affection, far stronger than 
 any bonds fastened by a forced contract, 
 and she was honoured and treated as were 
 the consorts of noble Greeks in olden times, 
 and not regarded merely as a nurse for her 
 husband's children. 
 
 And Daphne had determined, in like 
 manner, to enter into no forced marriage, 
 but to form a fitting connection with some 
 man whom she loved and honoured, if 
 chance s<; willed it. in marriage, but if not, 
 even as Aspasia with Pericles. And whal 
 may perhaps to some seem strange, whilst 
 she had constantly asserted for herself the 
 truest freedom, she had preserved also the
 
 24 THOTH. 
 
 strictest virtue. Many Athenian youths 
 had loved her, and some men of good 
 standing, but none had touched her fancy. 
 Like Aspasia, she had been carefully 
 trained in poetry, rhetoric, and music, 
 and she could converse with much acute- 
 ness and in a pleasing manner. 
 
 Now, when the plague had carried off 
 her natural protectors and desolated the 
 city, Daphne not only despaired in her 
 heart of carrying out her idea in practice, 
 but was afraid for her life, and at the least 
 dreaded that her beauty would be marred 
 or the sharpness of her mind blunted. 
 
 And when she was thus cast down in 
 spirit, a maiden of her acquaintance came 
 running, and told her all the Egyptian had 
 promised, saying that they were themselves 
 of Grecian stock, and spoke the language 
 of the old heroes. 
 
 And Daphne, although she thought the
 
 DAPHNE. 25 
 
 report an idle tale or a snare, still, seeing 
 that it offered some chance of safety, whilst 
 in the city there seemed none, agreed to 
 hear what the stranger had to say. 
 
 She found the maidens in a group 
 apart, weeping and terrified, and taking 
 counsel together ; but the Egyptians were 
 talking to one another in an unknown 
 tongue, and laughing, as it were, over a 
 good jest. To Daphne, however, there 
 seemed to be more bitterness than mirth 
 in their laughter, and she swiftly deter- 
 mined not to £0, and to dissuade the 
 others also. But suddenly the leader 
 turned his eyes full upon her, and she felt 
 compelled, as if by some superior power, 
 to scan his features closely, and to try 
 to pierce his thoughts. 
 
 He was of ordinary stature, and evi- 
 dently in the full vigour of manhood. 
 His frame was strong, and his appearance
 
 26 THOTH. 
 
 denoted the perfection of health ; but 
 he did not appear to be trained in 
 athletic exercises in the Greek manner, 
 and his whole bearing was that of a man 
 accustomed to work more with the mind 
 than the body. His forehead was, both 
 in height and breadth, much more massive 
 than was customary with the Athenians. 
 His hair, which was cut very short, and his 
 eyebrows, were perfectly black. He wore no 
 beard, and the fineness of his skin, although 
 darker than that of even Asiatics, seemed 
 almost boyish. His nose and mouth were 
 of the pure Greek type, and the setting 
 of his lips and chin denoted great deter- 
 mination. His eyes, however, formed by 
 far the most striking feature of his person. 
 They were deeply seated under overhang- 
 ing brows, but their large fulness and in- 
 tense blackness made them at once seize 
 the attention of the beholder. Even in
 
 DAPHNE. 27 
 
 momentary repose they displayed a won- 
 derful and mysterious depth of intelli- 
 gence, but the rapid restless motion with 
 which they generally absorbed every detail 
 in the range of sight, revealed a marvellous 
 power of observation and quickness of 
 decision. Their glances seemed to pene- 
 trate the inmost recesses of the mind ; and 
 the Greek maiden knew at once that she 
 had never seen such power in any counte- 
 nance, and she felt at first sight the influ- 
 ence of a mighty will. 
 
 Daphne was in most respects in striking- 
 contrast to the Egyptian leader. 
 
 She was more than his equal in the 
 exquisite proportions of her limits, and 
 she was in the very spring-time of youth- 
 ful beauty. But her forehead, though 
 broad, was low, and showed no trace of the 
 oppression of thought. Her eyes were like 
 those of the goddesses in Homer, whom,
 
 28 THOTH. 
 
 confident in the truth of nature, he boldly 
 praised as being ox-eyed. They seemed as 
 if formed for the display of all the tender- 
 ness and longing of the highest human 
 love, but sensuous and passionate they 
 were not, and everything in Daphne's 
 appearance betokened a well-balanced and 
 restful mind. 
 
 Woman she was in perfection, of the 
 purest Greek race, with the soft outlines 
 of a beauty moulded by feeling, with lips 
 ready to respond to affection or to reject 
 scorn with passionate impulse, with a 
 hand soft for caresses, or when knit with 
 anger, strong as the Amazon's in battle. 
 Power her face showed in abundance, but 
 it was the power of the varying instinct 
 that has reason for its instrument, and 
 utterly unlike that of the Egyptian, in 
 which a glance seemed to show that every 
 passion was under the control of an iron
 
 DAPHNE. 29 
 
 will, and guided by reason only. The 
 woman moved with easy grace, as if every 
 gesture was a pleasure, whilst every 
 movement of the man betokened restless, 
 untiring energy. 
 
 When the Egyptian leader saw Daphne 
 with the maidens who had already agreed 
 to make the venture, he first of all seemed 
 astonished at her radiant beauty and her 
 composure of manner, and then said : — 
 
 "We had completed the number of those 
 whom we would take, but come thou too if 
 thou wilt, for thou art a goddess-queen 
 amongst the others." 
 
 But she answered — " It seems as if ye 
 wished to take advantage of our terror and 
 steal us away for slaves, for your tale is 
 difficult to believe. Ye boast yourselves to 
 be Greeks, but ninny tribes of Grecians have 
 I seen, and none with features and hair like
 
 30 THOTH. 
 
 yours ; and ye speak not Greek to one an- 
 other, and the language thou thyself speak- 
 est seems learned from the books of old 
 poets, and not thy mother's tongue." 
 
 Then the leader replied — "These men 
 are my servants, and through dwelling 
 long among strangers our appearance has 
 changed." 
 
 And Daphne had from the first been con- 
 strained to admit that his countenance 
 seemed much more noble and kingly than 
 the rest ; but she said, " Give me some sign 
 that these are thy servants. Why does 
 that man," pointing to one of them, " sneer 
 at me and laugh so immoderately ? ' : 
 
 Then the leader said, " Here is a sign for 
 thee." 
 
 And going up to the man, he struck him 
 full in the face, and the blood started from 
 his lips, and the man fell as one dead, yet 
 none of his companions said a word.
 
 DAPHNE. 31 
 
 Then Daphne believed in his authority, 
 but she was alarmed by his violence and 
 turned to go. But he said to her — 
 
 "Wilt thou indeed go back to a loath- 
 some death when life and honour and riches 
 are open to thee ? Wouldst thou through 
 silly fear become like him ? " and he pointed 
 to a man at a little distance writhing in the 
 agony of the plague. "I can save thee if 
 thou wilt. See, the plague has no terror 
 for me." 
 
 Then he went u\) to the sick man and 
 took him by the hand, and looked stead- 
 fastly in his face and said, "Thou art for- 
 tunate — thou wilt not die of this disease." 
 
 And another plague-stricken wretch near 
 him begged with parched lips for water, but 
 he said, "Too late ! " and turned to Daphne. 
 
 " Take care it is not too late for thee ! 
 We have already more than enough who 
 are willing to go. Still il vexes me to leave
 
 32 THOTH. 
 
 the loveliest to black death, and to save 
 others. What more dost thou desire to 
 know or to make me promise ? " and he 
 seemed to speak and look in a more kindly 
 manner than before. And suddenly through 
 Daphne's mind there flashed the words of 
 the poet, " Bather would I live on earth 
 as the hireling of another with a landless 
 man who had no great livelihood, than bear 
 sway among all the dead that be departed." 
 Then she said, "Promise me one thing. 
 Swear to me by thy strongest oath, and I 
 will go. Swear to me if, when I reach thy 
 country, I like it not, thou wilt send me 
 back unharmed either to Athens or to 
 some Greek city which has escaped the 
 pestilence." 
 
 And he said, " By the respect I owe to 
 my fathers, who are not dead but sleep, 
 awaiting the day of triumph, I swear to 
 thee. It is an oath that cannot be broken."
 
 DAPHNE. 33 
 
 And his dark eyes flashed, and no sign of 
 deceit appeared in his face ; and Daphne 
 said, " I trust thee. I will go." 
 
 And the other maidens gained confidence 
 by what they had seen and heard, and, 
 according to the word of the Egyptian 
 leader, went by different ways and as 
 secretly as possible to a place appointed 
 for meeting, and they said nothing to any 
 they met.
 
 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NEPENTHE. 
 
 Before they separated, the Egyptian leader 
 gave to Daphne, whom he looked on as 
 having authority over the rest, a powdered 
 substance in a small linen bag. 
 
 "This," said he, "is that Nepenthe of 
 which your poet sings, the most soothing 
 of all medicines, and known to the Egyp- 
 tians from very ancient times. When ye 
 come to our trysting-place on the coast, 
 and the other maidens begin to be again 
 afraid, mix this drug with sweet wine and 
 they will forget their sorrow. Say to them 
 that it is a remedy against the plague. As
 
 NEPENTHE. 35 
 
 soon as ye have partaken of it, we will 
 appear and take you to our ship. And in 
 the ship ye shall find the female slaves we 
 have brought, and good store of garments 
 and precious things. So care for nothing 
 but to escape as speedily as possible, for if 
 the reason of your flight were known, all 
 the Athenians would come, and in the 
 crowd all must perish. Farewell ! " 
 
 The place of meeting was a little sandy 
 bay set in the midst of steep, rough rocks, 
 and about two hours from the city. Encour- 
 aged by the spirit and example of Daphne 
 on the one hand, and on the other driven 
 by the fear of the plague, the maidens, a 
 little before sunset, reached the appointed 
 spot. At some distance they saw a dark 
 "vessel unlike any they had ever seen, for 
 there seemed to be place neither for oars 
 nor sails. It looked rather Like the hull of
 
 36 THOTH. 
 
 a wrecked ship than a vessel prepared for 
 a long journey. 
 
 The maidens in their trepidation were 
 ready to start with alarm at any strange 
 sight, and the black vessel, on which not 
 a man was visible, seemed to them as 
 dismal as the boat with which Charon 
 ferries the souls of the dead over the Styx. 
 They looked back already with longing to 
 the city, and with fear they saw the long 
 shadows cast by the declining sun. 
 
 But Daphne was determined to complete 
 the venture, and she prepared to give them 
 the drug. 
 
 "This," said she, " is a charm against the 
 plague." 
 
 " Perchance," whispered one of the 
 maidens, "it is poisonous." 
 
 But Daphne replied, " Nay, that thought 
 of thine is altogether foolish. Why should 
 the men entice us away from the city
 
 NEPENTHE. 3 7 
 
 simply to put us to death ? Fear not, — I 
 will begin." 
 
 She mixed the nepenthe with the sweet 
 wine, and drank of it herself, and gave to 
 the others, and they all drank. 
 
 And then, indeed, as the leader of the 
 band of merchants had said, so it happened. 
 
 Slowly and dreamily the distant city be- 
 gan to blend with the clouds. The waves 
 of the sea fell upon the shore with the 
 rhythm of sweet music. The air became 
 heavy with the odours of drowsy flowers 
 and mystic perfumes. The sand formed 
 a softer couch than the most excpiisite 
 cushions of the East. The maidens looked 
 on one another with calm content. Fear- 
 less and careless, they gave themselves up 
 to the misty shapes of languid pleasures. 
 
 All memory of the past vanished, and 
 vanished also all thought of the future. 
 From the black vessel they saw a boat put 

 
 38 THOTH. 
 
 off, and they watched its approach as list- 
 lessly as if it were but the shadow of a 
 cloud on the water. The sound of the oars 
 was like the measured far-off beat of the 
 wings of a flying swan. The men landed 
 and seemed to murmur to one another in 
 the ancient language of the happy gods ; 
 they lifted up the maidens, and their touch 
 was gentle as the caress of a child. Then 
 the day melted into the dark of evening, 
 and one and all the maidens sank into 
 quiet, dreamless slumber.
 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MIGHT OF SKILL. 
 
 When Daphne awoke she found herself 
 lying on a luxurious couch, in a low apart- 
 ment lighted with hanging lamps. From 
 the movement, she judged they were on 
 the sea. Her companions were still sleep- 
 ing, but the women slaves were awake, and 
 moved about easily. 
 
 Daphne arose and tried to walk, but her 
 feet were unsteady with the movement. 
 She called a slave-girl, and with her help 
 reached the door. She found, from the 
 slave's report, they had slept a very long 
 time — how long she knew not.
 
 40 THOTH. 
 
 Outside the door was a kind of ladder. 
 She climbed up into the fresh air, and 
 found herself on the deck of a large ship. 
 A vessel of some kind it certainly was, for 
 no land was in sight — nothing but the 
 waves dancing in the sunlight. But the 
 craft was altogether different from any- 
 thing she had heard of or imagined. 
 
 No sail was set, nor did there appear to 
 be any masts. There were no oars, and no 
 places where oars might be used. The floor 
 on which she stood was a smooth unbroken 
 surface, except for the entrance by which 
 she had ascended, and two of a similar kind 
 in different places, of which the doors were 
 closed. No man was visible, and there was 
 no sound except the lapping of the waves. 
 
 At first she thought some dreadful storm 
 must have carried away the upper part of 
 the vessel, and left only the lower portion ; 
 but on looking, she found no signs of break-
 
 THE MIGHT OF SKILL. 41 
 
 age or wreck, and discovered, to her amaze- 
 ment, that the sides of the bulwarks round 
 the deck were of iron, or some metal, per- 
 fectly finished. 
 
 The wind seemed very strong, but the 
 waves hardly moved. She saw some birds 
 in the water, which were, she thought, 
 swimming at a great pace without any 
 effort ; then some beams passed with the 
 same speed ; then, as she looked more care- 
 fully, the waves of the sea seemed rushing 
 past and breaking on the bows of the ves- 
 sel. At last she found that it was the ship 
 which, without sail or oar, or any visible 
 power, was dashing through the water. 
 She was awe-struck ! Alone in the midst 
 of the sea, with no sign of human power, 
 the vessel was rushing through the water 
 like some hu2;e sea-monster ! 
 
 She made her way to the side, almost 
 expecting to see great fins ploughing the
 
 42 THOTH. 
 
 water, or a myriad arms clutching it in 
 swimming. But she could see nothing, 
 and hear nothing. Silently, without a jar 
 or shock of any kind, the vessel sped on its 
 way through a desolate waste of waters. 
 The silence and solitude terrified her, and 
 she turned to call her companions. She 
 wished to know if she were still in a land 
 of dreams, and under the power of the 
 drug. 
 
 But the sun shone with burning heat, 
 the spray of the water was cold, the air was 
 fresh, and everything she touched and saw 
 seemed real and true. No phantom sea or 
 ocean, she thought, could look so strong 
 and glaring. 
 
 Suddenly the Egyptian leader stood by 
 her side, and as she shrank from him, he 
 said, " Fear not ! I have sworn an oath that 
 cannot be broken." 
 
 And when she looked in his eyes, her
 
 THE MIGHT OF SKILL. 43 
 
 courage was restored, and she said, " Tell 
 me whither we are going, and how it is 
 that the vessel moves without sail or oars. 
 To me it seems like wicked magic." 
 
 "We are going," he replied, " to a coun- 
 try in which, if thou wilt, thou shalt be a 
 great queen ; and there is no magic, but 
 simply human skill which moves the ship, 
 though it would be tedious to explain the 
 matter more fully." 
 
 Then Daphne mused for a time on the 
 strangeness of her situation, and at length, 
 after gazing fixedly at the Egyptian, she 
 said, " Grant me one more promise." And 
 he said, " If it is possible, I will grant it." 
 
 " Already when we were still at Athens," 
 she said, " I noticed thou toldest the other 
 maidens things that thou knewest to be 
 false, taking advantage of their ignorance. 
 Now I am altogether in thy power and at 
 thy mercy, and I am prepared for my fate,
 
 44 THOTH. 
 
 having escaped a horrible death through 
 thy aid. But my request is this : whatever 
 thou sayest to me, let it be truth — do not 
 play with me at least, with idle tales." 
 
 The Egyptian seemed to reflect for a 
 long time, and his look became gloomy. 
 
 Then he said : " Already I have promised 
 thee more than I intended, and the truth 
 is too hard for thee to hear, or even to un- 
 derstand, for the present." 
 
 For a moment Daphne shuddered, but 
 by an effort she recovered her composure, 
 and said : " To avoid death by the pes- 
 tilence, willingly, with my eyes open, I 
 surrendered myself to thee, although I did 
 not know even thy name. I look on my- 
 self as already in the under-world. Noth- 
 ing now will terrify me, for thy vaunted 
 oath I believe no longer." 
 
 The Egyptian replied, " The oath cannot 
 be broken, and whatever I say to thee
 
 THE MIGHT OF SKILL. 45 
 
 shall be free from deceit. But there are 
 many things that I cannot tell thee : what- 
 ever I say shall be true, but neither can I 
 tell thee everything, nor could thy mind at 
 present bear it, any more than thy eyes 
 could look straight at the sun. My coun- 
 try is in many ways different from Athens. 
 My name is Thoth." 
 
 At first Daphne was displeased to be 
 treated like a child, but her curiosity was 
 excited, and she began to ask questions. 
 The answers, however, seemed for the most 
 part to cause still greater mystery. 
 
 Suddenly she heard a cry of alarm from 
 some of her companions. They too had 
 awaked, and had come to join Daphne. 
 Just as they came near, at the other end 
 of the vessel two of the merchants ap- 
 peared, and began to eye the maidens with 
 the look of curious contempt which al 
 first had alarmed Daphne. She turned to
 
 4G THOTH. 
 
 Thotli and said, "Why are these men so 
 hateful in appearance ? They fill me with 
 dread, and terrify my companions." 
 
 A look of displeasure crossed the face of 
 the leader, and he said sternly, " This shall 
 not be. I will compel them to honour 
 whom I choose, and in a short time I will 
 give thee an undoubted sign."
 
 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE MIGHT OF CHANCE. 
 
 Thoth disappeared, and on his return said 
 to Daphne, " It is necessary to encourage 
 thy companions, and to show them that 
 they have nothing to fear. They seem to 
 dread my people, but I will make every 
 man give them an undoubted sign of 
 respect." 
 
 Daphne informed her companions, and 
 according to the request of Thoth, they 
 stood in a line leaning on the side of the 
 vessel. He then summoned his men, and 
 they awaited his orders in an attitude 
 of the most obsequious deference. Then
 
 48 THOTH. 
 
 Thotli advanced to Daphne, and taking 
 her hand, said — 
 
 " Permit me to show thee honour." 
 
 He bowed and lightly kissed her fingers. 
 Then he turned to his companions, and 
 choosing out the man whom he had struck 
 in Athens, he said — 
 
 " Kneel down and kiss the foot of this 
 maiden." 
 
 The man's face showed a strange conflict 
 of emotions. Amazement struggled with 
 obedience, and the strongest efforts at com- 
 posure failed to suppress his loathing at 
 the indignity put upon him. At length, 
 however, he advanced and knelt down, 
 and did as he was commanded. He rose 
 immediately, with his face pale with 
 displeasure. 
 
 Then Thotli turned to another, and point- 
 ing to one of the maidens, said, " Ask thou 
 permission to kiss her hand."
 
 THE MIGHT OF CHANCE. 49 
 
 Next to Daphne, she was the most beau- 
 tiful of all the maidens, and the most cour- 
 ageous, and to kiss her hand was an honour 
 worthy of the noblest. But, to the sur- 
 prise of the maidens, this seemed to be a 
 most difficult and disagreeable duty. The 
 man obeyed his leader, but he asked for 
 the favour as willingly as a coward might 
 ask for death. The maiden laughed at the 
 obvious dislike, and thinking it was due to 
 the seeming dishonour, and being in her 
 nature kind and generous, she said, "Nay, 
 it is not so terrible. See, I will kiss thy 
 hand first." But the man drew back with 
 signs of abhorrence much more strongly 
 marked, and the maiden was indignant. 
 
 The leader seemed for the moment sur- 
 prised at the failure of his plan, and then 
 his determination became stronger than 
 ever. He commanded the men to kneel 
 before the maidens, and to say in the most 
 
 D
 
 50 THOTH. 
 
 distinct and emphatic manner, "We will 
 honour all these maidens as we honour 
 thee, Thoth." He then dismissed them, 
 but instead of having been encouraged, 
 the maidens were more alarmed than be- 
 fore. 
 
 Thoth took Daphne aside, and said to 
 
 her — 
 
 "How comes it that thy courage is so 
 much stronger than that of thy compan- 
 ions ? We must make another attempt to 
 gain their confidence." 
 
 He then gave an order to his men, and 
 they brought up on deck a strange mechan- 
 ical contrivance. In shape it was something 
 like the body of a bird, and was composed 
 principally of a kind of wicker-work made 
 from some shining metal. The lower part 
 was apparently solid. In a few words 
 Thoth explained to Daphne that by means 
 of this brazen bird, as he termed it, a man
 
 THE MIGHT OF CHANCE. 51 
 
 could be carried with the greatest swiftness 
 through the air. He commanded one of 
 the men to enter the machine, and, to the 
 astonishment of the maidens, in a few mo- 
 ments the bird rose in the air. It sailed 
 round and round the vessel like a sea-bird 
 in search of food, and then at a sign from 
 Thotli returned to the deck. 
 
 Then he said to Daphne, " This aerial 
 boat will bear with safety two persons. 
 Wilt thou venture to ascend with me? 
 Perchance that will give confidence to thy 
 companions." 
 
 Daphne at once assented, but the rest 
 implored her not to leave them, and said 
 esjjccially that they were afraid to be left 
 alone in the vessel with Thoth's hateful men. 
 
 The leader smiled with hardly veiled 
 contempt, and said, "That is soon pro- 
 vided for. See, I have but to draw this 
 bolt, and the men are imprisoned below."
 
 52 THOTH. 
 
 At a word the men disappeared, and 
 the bolt was drawn. 
 
 "Now," said he, "enter, and in a few 
 moments we will return." 
 
 Daphne and Thoth then entered the car, 
 and again it flew round and round the 
 ship. The maidens lost their fear in ad- 
 miration, and one said, " To what height 
 can the bird fly ? " 
 
 Thoth replied, "To such a height that 
 thou couldst hardly see it. It will mount 
 the air like a lark." And to Daphne he 
 said, " Shall we make a trial ? " and she 
 at once assented. 
 
 Under Thoth's guidance the car rose 
 straight upwards to a great height. 
 Daphne looked down with wonder at the 
 vessel beneath, so far off that the maidens 
 through the distance could no longer be 
 distinguished.
 
 THE MIGHT OF CHANCE. 53 
 
 Then suddenly she cried out in alarm 
 to her guide. The vessel had disappeared 
 beneath the waves, and there was nothing 
 to be seen but a few of the maidens 
 struggling and shrieking in the water. 
 
 Daphne looked at Thoth. His face 
 showed most unfeigned surprise and vexa- 
 tion. For the moment he seemed to lose 
 his self-command, but it was only for the 
 moment. 
 
 Apparently without an effort he became 
 as calm and unimpassioned as before. 
 
 "Hasten!" cried Daphne; "descend to 
 the rescue ! " 
 
 " It is impossible," he said. " All will 
 be drowned before we can reach them ; and 
 besides this, the car can sustain no more." 
 
 Daphne looked with horror at the com- 
 posure of this man, and began to suspect 
 treachery. "Didst Hum expect this catas- 
 trophe?" she said, trembling.
 
 54 THOTH. 
 
 " Nay," said he ; " nothing was further 
 from my thoughts. I can ill spare my 
 men, and my scheme has broken down at 
 the outset. It will be troublesome to re- 
 place the maidens." 
 
 The coldness of his manner seemed to 
 Daphne unnatural and inhuman. " At 
 least," she said, "make an effort to save 
 their lives." 
 
 " It is useless," he replied calmly ; " but 
 as thou wilt." 
 
 They descended, but long before they 
 reached the spot, the sea had swallowed 
 up every trace except a few remnants of 
 floating wreckage. 
 
 "There is no time to lose," said Thoth. 
 " We must go direct to my city. The 
 strength of my bird will just suffice to 
 reach it." 
 
 Daphne sank down helpless and dis- 
 mayed.
 
 THE MIGHT OF CHANCE. 55 
 
 Thotli applied to her lips a small phial, 
 and she was powerless to resist. Again 
 she tasted the strange flavour of the ne- 
 penthe, and again care and sorrow were 
 dispelled from her mind. She heard Thoth 
 say, as if to himself — 
 
 "It is not possible that they would have 
 dared to disobey and become traitors. . . . 
 Yet they hated the women. . . . But what 
 flaw was possible. . . . Truly chance is 
 great."
 
 56 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A STRANGE WELCOME. 
 
 When Daphne awoke from her trance, she 
 found herself lying on a couch in a luxu- 
 rious apartment looking on to a beautiful 
 garden. The scene was peaceful in the 
 highest degree. The sun was high in the 
 heavens, and the air was laden with sweet 
 odours. Strange coloured birds flitted 
 through the trees, and seemed quite fear- 
 less. 
 
 For some time Daphne lay drowsily 
 looking at the garden, hardly conscious 
 of the journey she had made. The past 
 seemed a dream, and the present a dream
 
 A STRANGE WELCOME. 57 
 
 within a dream. At last her curiosity led 
 her to examine the details of her chamber, 
 and she rose up. Hardly had she done so, 
 when she heard in an ante-room at the 
 farther end a clamour of voices as soft and 
 thin as those of little children, and yet with 
 a stransre resemblance to those of grown 
 people in the fulness and quickness of the 
 articulation. 
 
 Suddenly, through the opening of the 
 curtain which half concealed the aperture, 
 a troop of tiny little people rushed and ran 
 up to Daphne, kissed the ground before her, 
 and then stood still, as if waiting for her 
 commands. She then saw they were really 
 men and women of the true pigmy race. 
 They were finely shaped, and had pretty, 
 well-cut features, and without exception 
 the most pleasant of countenances. They 
 looked up to her just like dogs waiting for 
 some notice to be taken of them, with
 
 58 THOTH. 
 
 glances full of suppressed friendliness. It 
 was very gratifying to her, after the strange 
 dangers through which she had passed, to 
 meet with such spontaneous affection from 
 the little people. At a venture she spoke 
 to them in Greek, and asked for food and 
 water, and one of them immediately gave 
 orders to the rest in the same old Greek 
 dialect which Thoth had used. 
 
 In a very short time a table was covered 
 with all kinds of delicacies. The pigmies, 
 Daphne observed, were very strong, and 
 with incredible agility they avoided any in- 
 conveniences due to their smallness of sta- 
 ture, leaping on one another's shoulders, 
 and climbing with the agility of monkeys. 
 
 As soon as Daphne had finished her re- 
 past, her little servants conducted her 
 through a series of apartments, all appoint- 
 ed in a very elegant manner, and they 
 showed her with pride everything which
 
 A STRANGE WELCOME. 59 
 
 seemed to them most beautiful and useful. 
 They watched with evident glee, and yet 
 in a perfectly deferential manner, for her 
 surprise when they revealed some new 
 wonder. 
 
 Her greatest desire, however, was to 
 know who the little men and women were, 
 and this wish was only gratified to a very 
 small extent. Their position seemed to 
 them so natural, that they did not under- 
 stand the meaning of her questions. In 
 each answer everything seemed to depend 
 on Thoth. To say that Thoth had com- 
 manded such and such a thing, seemed to 
 them final. They could no more explain 
 why they obeyed and revered Thoth as an 
 altogether superior being, than they could 
 say why the sun gave light, or a stone fell 
 to the earth. One thing alone was quite 
 clear — they were absolutely under the sway 
 of Thoth, and yet the relationship was one
 
 60 THOTH. 
 
 of thorough love and confidence. They 
 had evidently been told to treat Daphne in 
 the same manner, and they did so with 
 the greatest joyfulness. They were in- 
 deed models of affectionate servants, and 
 examples of perfect obedience. 
 
 The admiration of the pigmies for Daphne 
 was immensely increased when another of 
 their tribe entered, and in an obsequious 
 manner asked her if she would permit 
 Thoth to pay her a visit, or if she would 
 prefer to rest and recover her spirits. The 
 little people were evidently amazed that 
 she should be treated by Thoth with such 
 respect, but they were too well trained to 
 have any doubt as to its being right. It 
 was Thoth's message, and that was enough 
 for their simple, affectionate hearts. 
 
 Daphne was anxious to see her preserver. 
 The vague sense of fear which hitherto his 
 presence had always aroused was dissipated
 
 A STRANGE WELCOME. 61 
 
 by the atmosphere of kindly veneration 
 in which the pigmies lived. Thoth, she 
 thought, could not he very terrible when 
 he was regarded with so much affection by 
 these childlike men and women. 
 
 On the contrary, he must be a kind and 
 gentle master, in spite of the example he 
 had given her of his violence at their first 
 meeting. 
 
 Accordingly, Daphne answered with alac- 
 rity that she would be glad to receive her 
 host, and immediately after Thoth entered 
 and saluted her with profound respect. 
 
 Yet in spite of herself, a shudder passed 
 through the maiden. She looked through 
 his eyes, but could not see his thoughts. 
 She was not afraid of any treachery or 
 violence. She believed his respect was 
 real, and yet a nameless, causeless dread 
 seized her for the moment. The little 
 people, however, showed such undoubted
 
 62 THOTH. 
 
 pleasure at being in his company that 
 Daphne's anxiety vanished, and she as- 
 cribed her fear simply to the strangeness 
 of the situation. 
 
 Thoth lost no time in explaining the rea- 
 son of his visit. He dismissed the little 
 servants, and reminded Daphne, with all 
 the calmness and dignity of an experienced 
 ambassador, of the real object of her jour- 
 ney. He repeated again and again that no 
 pressure of any kind would be put upon 
 her, and that after she had become ac- 
 quainted with the city and its people and 
 o-overnors, if she did not like to remain and 
 to form a queenly alliance, she would be 
 conveyed back to any place she chose. In 
 the meantime she was at liberty to use the 
 apartments and gardens as she pleased, and 
 whenever she wished she could explore the 
 city under his guidance.
 
 A STRANGE WELCOME. G3 
 
 " Tell me," she said, " is this the land of 
 the pigmies, and art thou the king ? ' 
 
 " I am not the king ; yet in truth I 
 might call myself vice-regent, and say that 
 I have all the power of the king. As for 
 the people, presently, methinks, thou wilt 
 wonder if this is the land of giants." 
 
 " Will the giants be as friendly as the 
 pigmies ? Perchance they will frighten 
 me. Are they huge and dreadful like 
 Polyphemus ? " 
 
 " Nay," he replied ; " though I said 
 giants, they are indeed but full-grown men. 
 Believe once for all that in all our land 
 there is nothing magical or contrary to 
 nature. Thou wilt find the giants as docile 
 and amiable as the pigmies, but their 
 duties arc different. Come with me and 
 see them; and it will be more pleasant 
 for thee if thou wilt assume a disguise such 
 as mine."
 
 64 THOTH. 
 
 Thoth then put on a mask, and wrap- 
 ped himself round in an ample garment. 
 Daphne did the same ; and but for being a 
 little shorter in height, she seemed indis- 
 tinguishable from her guide. Thus they 
 sallied forth to view the city. 
 
 Thoth carried in his hand a golden staff 
 richly ornamented with sparkling gems.
 
 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CITY. 
 
 At the palace - gate was a lightly Imilt 
 carriage with two beautiful horses, for 
 Th o tli informed his companion he wished 
 to show her the city itself before he made 
 her further acquainted with the inhabit- 
 ants. By a winding road shaded witli 
 trees he conducted her to the summit of 
 a little hill, and bade her look round. 
 
 She saw at the first glance that the city 
 was built in a curious rocky oasis in the 
 midst of an illimitable desert. At her 
 feet were buildings and gardens forming 
 a large city. The buildings were widely 
 
 E
 
 66 THOTH. 
 
 scattered, and the whole place was about 
 twenty leagues in circumference. It was 
 surrounded by lofty walls, and beyond the 
 walls, as far as the eye could reach, there was 
 nothing but a burning flat of barren sand. 
 
 The green spot on which the city stood, 
 with the exception of the little hill, ap- 
 peared to Daphne hollowed out like a cup ; 
 and it seemed as if the ocean of sand might 
 at any time engulf it. There were no 
 gates, and the country seemed completely 
 isolated. 
 
 A sense of forlorn ness seized on Daphne, 
 and in spite of her courage she wept as she 
 thought of Athens. 
 
 Her guide at once divined her thoughts, 
 and assured her that she had only to com- 
 mand him, and once more to be bold 
 enough to mount with him into the air, 
 and in a few hours she would find herself 
 in Greece.
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CITY. G7 
 
 Thus he comforted her, and her heart 
 warmed to him for his kindness. 
 
 They then drove through the city, and 
 Daphne was amazed at the magnificence 
 and beauty of the buildings and the luxu- 
 riance of the gardens. She saw very few 
 people, and those were clearly of an in- 
 ferior rank. They were of an ordinary 
 stature and olive-tinted complexion. 
 
 They stood still and saluted the masks 
 with the most profound respect; and Daphne 
 observed that the jewelled staff carried by 
 Thoth especially commanded their rever- 
 ence. 
 
 All the buildings, roads, and gardens 
 seemed in the most admirable state of 
 preservation and good order. The city 
 was evidently inhabited by people in the 
 height of prosperity; and the thing which 
 most surprised Daphne was the apparent 
 sparseness of the population. Her mriosity
 
 68 THOTH. 
 
 was aroused, and she asked Thoth if this 
 place had also been ravaged by the plague ; 
 but he replied that no city in the world 
 was so healthy, and that never in the 
 memory of man had it been visited by 
 a pestilence. 
 
 The answer reminded Daphne of the 
 speech of Thoth to the people of Athens, 
 in which he told them that their indif- 
 ference to the plague arose from famil- 
 iarity. 
 
 The reminiscence of the untruth was 
 vivid and unpleasant, and she said to 
 Thoth : " Which word of thine am I to 
 believe ? This agrees not with thy saying 
 in Athens." 
 
 He simply replied, " That was before 
 my promise ; but in reality both state- 
 ments are true. We have had particular 
 cases of diseases like the plague, but never 
 throughout the whole population. Our
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CITY. 69 
 
 wise men are great physicians — in time 
 thou shalt know all." 
 
 " But how many people are there ? " 
 
 "The total number of men, women, and 
 children does not exceed twenty thousand." 
 
 " And is this the only city in thy do- 
 minion ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " How, then, canst thou boast of con- 
 quering the world? — and thou didst say 
 so. Thine oath was soon forgotten." 
 
 " We have long since learned that safety 
 and power are not in multitudes, but in 
 wisdom and skill. Our archers, few as 
 they arc, are equal almost to Apollo. 
 Thou hast seen that we can ride through 
 the air, and thou shalt learn that we can 
 perform other wonders unknown to the 
 rest of the world. But it is best to begin 
 with the simplest things. I will show thee 
 our lowest class of workers."
 
 70 THOTH. 
 
 They drove to a distant part of the city, 
 and as they passed along, the signs of life 
 became much more abundant. The dwell- 
 ings, though still large, were smaller and 
 much closer together. The people also 
 were different in appearance, and the 
 farther they advanced the more they in- 
 creased in stature. 
 
 At length Daphne understood that the 
 great mass of the people must be giants, 
 some of them beinoj twice the stature ol 
 ordinary men. Their faces, however, wore 
 an expression of pleased contentment, and 
 they were most obsequious in their saluta- 
 tions. They were lightly clad, and the 
 symmetry of their proportion, and the 
 massive strength of their limbs, were a 
 pleasure to the young Greek, accustomed 
 to revere the great statues of the Athenian 
 sculptors. • She thought to herself how 
 easily a small band of such warriors would
 
 THE WONDERS OF THE CITY. 71 
 
 break to pieces any army ; but Thoth said 
 to her, " These are the most peaceful and 
 quiet people in the whole world, and the 
 most admirable workers when strength is 
 needed. Which of your Greeks could 
 contend with the weakest of these men ? '' 
 
 He then ordered one of the men to cast 
 a huge piece of rock to a distance, which 
 he did with the most surprising ease. 
 
 The women in this quarter were nearly 
 as huge as the men, and, like them, admir- 
 ably shaped, and, in spite of their great 
 stature, very graceful in their movements. 
 Daphne noticed, however, both here as 
 through the rest of the city, that the 
 women always retired to their dwellings 
 on the appearance of the masks. 
 
 But apparently to please Daphne, Thoth 
 ordered some of the giantesses to approach, 
 and they did so with every sign of being 
 honoured and gratified.
 
 72 THOTH. 
 
 Daphne was delighted to discover that, 
 with the giants as with the pigmies, the 
 source of Thoth's power was not tyranny. 
 Evidently he was regarded as a superior 
 being, but as yet she could not imagine in 
 what the superiority consisted. It seemed 
 as if the whole city was ruled by_£erfect 
 obedience, resting on perfect love. 
 
 When she returned to her apartments 
 her little servants expressed the most 
 lively satisfaction, and Thoth left her in 
 their care, promising, if she wished, to 
 show her more of the city and its people 
 on the following day.
 
 73 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. 
 
 Day after day, Thoth conducted Daphne 
 through the city, showing to her all its 
 wonders. 
 
 They were always masked, and were in- 
 variably treated with the same profound 
 respect — no one even speaking to them, 
 except in answer to some question of 
 Thoth. 
 
 iVll the inhabitants seemed to be people 
 of great skill ; and many of the arts which 
 they practised Daphne would have thought 
 magical, but for the constant assurance 
 of her guide that everything was due
 
 74 THOTH. 
 
 simply to the accumulated knowledge of 
 ages. 
 
 She saw black charred wood changed 
 into beautiful crystals, and transparent 
 fluids transformed to solid images of ex- 
 quisite design. Time itself seemed to be 
 defeated at the hands of these cunning 
 workmen, for, in a few moments, she saw 
 a seedling grow into a plant with beautiful 
 flowers, as strong and healthy as if it had 
 taken a whole spring and summer. 
 
 Space was conquered in an equally 
 mysterious manner. In a few moments 
 they were carried under the ground, noise- 
 lessly and apparently without motion, from 
 one end of the city to the other. The 
 powers of nature also seemed enslaved : the 
 heat of the sun was made to turn vapour 
 into ice, the air was constrained to lift 
 ^reat weights, and light as brilliant as the 
 sun was drawn from running water.
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. 75 
 
 To her amazement, Daphne found that 
 the solid earth had been honey-combed 
 with workings, and forced to yield up 
 abundance of all kinds of treasures. 
 
 Streams of molten fluids were drawn 
 from the centre of the earth, and com- 
 pelled to separate into parts and to con- 
 geal into solid metals ; and noxious gases 
 were unloosed to drive intricate arrange- 
 ments of wheels and all kinds of tools. 
 
 Daphne began, unwillingly, to feel for 
 Thoth something of the veneration in 
 which he was held by all the people of 
 the place. There seemed to be nothing 
 which he did not understand perfectly, 
 and she thought that it must be this 
 superiority of knowledge which com- 
 manded such respect. Her interest in 
 him was keenly aroused, for he seemed 
 compounded of opposite elements. 
 
 When simply speaking, he seemed as
 
 76 THOTH. 
 
 passionless as snow ; but when lie re- 
 moved his mask, his expression revealed 
 sometimes a keen conflict of emotion. 
 Though he seemed in general bold, de- 
 termined, and inflexible, sometimes his 
 eyes revealed a doubtful hesitancy, and 
 pride and confidence often seemed to give 
 way to despair and self-pity. 
 
 Once she said to him, " Is there any- 
 thing left for thee to discover ? ' and he 
 replied, with all gravity, " The very be- 
 ginnings of knowledge are hid from me : 
 my knowledge is a drop in an ocean of 
 ignorance. I have climbed a blind path 
 which, perchance, will soon be lost in a 
 wilderness." And then he relapsed into a 
 melancholy silence. 
 
 Occasionally, in their wanderings and 
 explorations, Daphne saw others disguised 
 like themselves, and treated with similar
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. V 7 
 
 deference by the people generally. Even 
 these, however, showed to Thoth, on sight 
 of his golden staff, the submission of 
 inferiors. 
 
 Daphne had been encouraged to ask 
 questions on anything which occurred to 
 her, and one day she said to Thoth — 
 
 " Are there any superior to thee ? Art 
 thou really not the king ? " 
 
 " There is one to whom I owe the utmost 
 obedience, and there are many equal to 
 me in authority if they choose to exercise 
 their power." 
 
 "And what do they?" 
 
 He hesitated, and then, appearing to re- 
 member his promise to answer, said, " At 
 present they spend their days and nights 
 in sleep, — they rest to prepare for great 
 deeds. I am vice-regent." 
 
 A strange people, thought Daphne, in 
 which the king and his princes are sleepers,
 
 78 THOTH. 
 
 and yet some say that is like the blessed 
 gods. 
 
 Months passed away, and Daphne began 
 to think that Thoth must have changed 
 his intentions regarding her. 
 
 She had seen none of the other chiefs, 
 unless those in disguise were such, and the 
 disguise was thorough and complete. 
 
 Sometimes, when half dreaming, she 
 imagined that Thoth must be reserving 
 her for himself ; but in a moment the image 
 of his passionless face, which never showed 
 any emotion save that of troubled thought, 
 put to flight the fancy. A marble statue 
 seemed more capable of love than this 
 superlatively wise vice-regent. 
 
 Never by one glance or touch, or word 
 or gesture, had Thoth shown the smallest 
 sign of love for her. He treated her always
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. 79 
 
 with the same delicacy; he never laughed 
 at her ignorance ; and in everything he 
 tried to consult her wishes. Yet Daphne 
 was at that time one of the most beautiful 
 women in the world, in the full pride of 
 youth and health, and endowed with a 
 mind capable of great thoughts, and a 
 spirit of courage to the performance of 
 great deeds ; and Thoth was apparently in 
 the very prime of vigorous manhood. Tin- 
 man was a mystery to her — a mystery sur- 
 rounded by mysteries. 
 
 Yet why had he brought her and tried 
 to bring more of her companions thither, 
 with infinite trouble and risk ? 
 
 And why had ho made such a careful 
 selection? — for the maidens were the flown- 
 of Greece. 
 
 WTien her reflections were turned in this 
 direction, other questions forced themselves 
 upon her which hitherto a certain deli-
 
 80 THOTH. 
 
 cacy had prevented her from putting to 
 
 Thoth. 
 
 How was it that his companions had 
 
 shown such repugnance and contempt for 
 
 her compatriots and herself, whilst Thoth 
 
 treated her with such deference ? 
 
 Over and over again she tried to detect 
 
 in his manner some trace of dislike, but 
 
 without success. Was Thoth of a different 
 race ? 
 
 Then she wondered how the women of 
 the highest rank were treated, and why 
 the chiefs should have sought for strange 
 women for wives. Many women she had 
 seen in the city, but none who seemed of a 
 superior degree, unless indeed some of the 
 masks were women disguised like herself. 
 At length she determined to ask Thoth, 
 and the next time they met a mask she 
 inquired if there were other women in her 
 position.
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. 81 
 
 He at once said " No." 
 
 " Do any of the women of thy tribe use 
 this dress ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Do ye of the highest rank always seek 
 wives from beyond the seas ? " 
 
 " With one exception," he replied, 
 " thou art the only stranger who has 
 entered our walls since their founda- 
 tion." 
 
 "Then are all your women dead — are 
 none of queenly rank left ? " 
 
 " There are more of them than of us." 
 
 " Are they not beautiful ? " 
 
 For answer he led her into a building 
 which seemed to be a kind of temple. He 
 unlocked a massive gate, and conducted her 
 into a well -lighted apartment. In the 
 middle was placed the statue of a most 
 beautiful woman. 
 
 "Such," he said, "are our women by 
 
 F
 
 82 THOTH. 
 
 nature. Greece has rarely produced such 
 wonders of form and grace." 
 
 From the statue Daphne turned to the 
 walls, which seemed to be covered with 
 statuary and paintings, and she started 
 back terrified. 
 
 A horrible fascination made her stare 
 at the works, and her eyes drank in the 
 meaning of the artist in a moment. 
 
 All the highest skill of the painter and 
 sculptor had apparently been exercised to 
 pour contempt upon women. 
 
 On the beautiful statue in the middle of 
 the apartment a number of stony figures 
 looked down with sneering hatred. This 
 grouping she might possibly have thought 
 accidental, but the pictures left no doubt 
 as to the design of the whole chamber. In 
 every case beautiful women were being 
 treated in a degraded manner, and men of 
 the same race as Thoth were depicted as
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. 83 
 
 treating them with absolute loathing and 
 disgust. 
 
 Then in Daphne's breast fear gave way 
 to anger and offended pride, and she said 
 to Thoth— 
 
 " How dost thou dare to show such 
 things to me ? Is this thy respect and 
 honour ? Dost thou not know that man 
 is raised above the beasts only by the 
 reverence paid to women ? I loathe thy 
 city, thy race, and thee ! Of what avail 
 is all the miserable skill and cunning of 
 thy slaves ? A swallow or locust can fly 
 more easily, a spider is a better spinner, 
 and the tiniest flower draws more varied 
 beauty from the dull earth. I scorn thy 
 boasted reason. Liar and hypocrite! how 
 canst thou stay in my presence? Throw 
 off thy mask and let me see thy cowardly 
 features livid with fear and shame. Lei 
 me see before I die that in this abomin-
 
 84 THOTH. 
 
 able spot one blow in honour of women 
 lias struck home. Take off that mask — 
 wilt thou make me mad ? Down with 
 the mask, I say, or my reason will not 
 hold till I can find a way to death. Thou 
 shalt not make me mad, and keep me for 
 thy lust and cruelty in this horrid den. 
 Hast thou no dagger — no deadly poison ? 
 Let me die ! Monster, make thyself 
 human for a moment, and being human, 
 slay me. I will not be maddened and 
 polluted." 
 
 Such and other wild words spoke Daphne, 
 every moment becoming more and more 
 infuriated, and, in truth, approaching the 
 verge of madness. At last she rushed at 
 Thoth and tore off his mask with a pas- 
 sionate cry. 
 
 His face struck her dumb with amaze- 
 ment. Instead of shame and fear, she saw 
 wonder and triumph depicted on his fea-
 
 THE DISHONOURED STATUE. 85 
 
 tures. Yet liis look was rather like that 
 of a spectator in a theatre who applauds 
 a good actor, than of a man in real life. 
 Certainly he showed neither contempt 
 nor lust nor cruelty. The flood of pas- 
 sion in Daphne's soul was swept away in 
 momentary wonder, and she fell senseless 
 to the ground.
 
 86 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 
 
 When Daphne recovered consciousness she 
 was surrounded by her little servants, all 
 of whom manifested the most tender in- 
 terest in her welfare. She was still in 
 the same apartment, but every vestige of 
 painting and sculpture had been removed, 
 except the beautiful statue in the middle. 
 
 Just as she opened her eyes Thoth him- 
 self was placing on the statue's head a 
 wreath of laurel, and a number of the pig- 
 mies were encircling the limbs and body 
 with garlands of beautiful flowers. 
 
 Thoth had resumed his mask, but removed
 
 THE WOMEN OF KOYAL RACE. 87 
 
 it as soon as he observed she was aroused. 
 His features were perfectly calm, and say- 
 ing " All shall be explained to thy liking," 
 he departed. 
 
 The little people drew Daphne in a low 
 carriage back to the palace, and she soon 
 slept, wearied with her passion and wonder. 
 
 The next morning Thoth did not appear 
 in person, but sent her a picture, which was 
 obviously intended to soothe her troubled 
 mind. It represented in the most accurate 
 manner the room of the statue, with the 
 walls bare and the image garlanded, just as 
 Daphne had left it. But the chief interest 
 in the picture lay in the fact that Thoth 
 himself was represented as gazing on the 
 statue with the most profound reverence, 
 and as if supplicating' for pardon. 
 
 For many days he did not appear, and 
 Daphne found herself constantly looking at 
 the picture.
 
 88 THOTH. 
 
 Thoth was certainly a skilled physi- 
 cian, and had administered the best medi- 
 cine to her mind. In time her repug- 
 nance completely wore away, and she 
 forgot a little the horror of her recent 
 anxiety. 
 
 Later she reproached herself with injus- 
 tice. She should have waited for some 
 explanation. And then, as the time went 
 by, she began to wish to see her protector 
 again, and to wonder what he meant by 
 saying to her, " All shall be explained to 
 thy liking." 
 
 Still Thoth came not, nor sent any mes- 
 sage, and at last Daphne sent to him one of 
 the pigmies with this request, " All is well. 
 Come to me. I would have the mystery 
 explained." 
 
 In a short time Thoth appeared, and 
 inquired with tender deference if she had 
 recovered from her vexation and anxiety.
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 89 
 
 He spoke as calmly as if it were merely 
 some bodily suffering she had endured, and 
 in which he had no part. But Daphne said 
 to him, " Fulfil thy promise — tell me why 
 I was taken into that dreadful place, and 
 with what intent those horrible designs 
 were made." 
 
 He looked at her narrowly, as a physi- 
 cian at his patient, and said, " I know not 
 if thou canst bear it ; and yet everything 
 hangs upon this mystery, — the object of 
 our journey to Athens — the nature of our 
 rule in this city — ay, and the future of 
 the whole human race." 
 
 He spoke slowly and with the most dis- 
 tinct articulation, and the last words were 
 uttered with all the solemnity of a priest 
 interpreting the signs of a great national 
 disaster. He seemed even to increase in 
 stature, and Daphne was overcome with his 
 impressive dignity.
 
 90 THOTH. 
 
 " Tel] me everything, I implore thee," 
 she said. 
 
 "Come, then," he replied; "but arm 
 thine heart with triple brass, for this time 
 it is living: women thou must see. 'Take 
 care, however, to stay thy reproaches till 
 thou hast heard all. Know always that it 
 is my intention to pay honour to thee, 
 and through thee to all women. But 
 the women thou must see first of all will 
 perchance again alarm thee. Art thou 
 strong enough ? " 
 
 Daphne shuddered, but she was deter- 
 mined to understand the affair, and she 
 replied, " Lead the way." 
 
 Thoth conducted her to a part of the city 
 to which they had never before been, and 
 they stopped at a narrow gate in a lofty 
 wall. Thoth unlocked the gate, and they
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 91 
 
 entered a spacious garden, in the midst of 
 which was placed a huge building. 
 
 Scarcely had they passed through the gate 
 when Daphne heard cries of alarm, appar- 
 ently from women, and saw some figures van- 
 ish through the trees in a hurried, fearful 
 manner. For the first time since she had 
 come to the city she noticed signs of distrust 
 and fear. Here, at any rate, Thoth's rule 
 seemed to rest not on love but on tyranny. 
 
 Such was Daphne's first impression, for 
 the women, if women they were, were 
 plainly terror-stricken. 
 
 They passed into the building, at the 
 gate of which a huge giantess of hideous 
 aspect presented Thoth with a scroll, which 
 seemed to be a carefully kept record. 
 
 They entered a large hall, and again 
 Daphne saw the same horrible designs as 
 before. 
 
 Thoth said to her, "These, too, shall
 
 92 THOTH. 
 
 be destroyed, but first we must look to the 
 living." 
 
 At intervals along the hall Daphne ob- 
 served curtains, and stopping before one of 
 them, Thoth drew it aside and revealed a 
 small cell. 
 
 Crouching at the back, like a terrified 
 animal, lay a woman, scantily clad in a 
 tattered garment made of coarse hair. 
 
 Her figure seemed robust and healthy, 
 but was rendered hideous by glaring streaks 
 of paint and devices of unclean animals 
 branded on the skin. Still more horrible 
 was her head. She was evidently young, 
 but she had no ears, no eyebrows, no hair. 
 Her mouth had been distended, and her 
 teeth were sharpened to fine points. She 
 grovelled on the ground, as if awaiting 
 torture, and Daphne's heart stood still with 
 horror and indignation. 
 
 Suddenly Thoth addressed the creature
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 93 
 
 in an unknown tongue, and after repeating 
 the same thing over and over again, appar- 
 ently made the woman understand and be- 
 lieve what he said, for suddenly she gave a 
 sobbing laugh and crouched to kiss his feet. 
 
 " I have told her," said Thoth, "that she 
 need labour no more at her appointed tasks, 
 aud will never again be punished. But the 
 thing which pleased her most, and which 
 she could not believe, was that without 
 her request she would never see any of 
 the masked rulers." 
 
 " What were her tasks ? ' : Daphne asked. 
 
 "It would be difficult to explain," said 
 Thoth. " They were all most irksome, 
 most useless, most trifling, but they were 
 exacted with dreadful punishments. She 
 had to count grains of sand, to unravel 
 tangled knots, to learn by rote strings of 
 meaningless sounds, and lo discover all 
 kinds of intricate puzzle-."
 
 94 THOTH. 
 
 To confirm his words, Thoth destroyed 
 the various instruments of labour, scattered 
 the sand, tore up the parchments, and 
 stamped upon the fragments of the broken 
 toys. The woman seemed stupefied with 
 incredulous surprise, like a dazed child just 
 recovered from a fit of terror. 
 
 They passed on, and Thoth drew the 
 curtain of another cell Here again the 
 occupant was a woman, but she was ex- 
 quisitely clothed, and both face and form 
 were extremely beautiful. She shuddered 
 when the masks entered, and hastily began 
 to arrange in a harmonious manner various 
 shades of coloured stuffs. She looked anxi- 
 ously, too, at the walls of the cell, which 
 were covered with pictures. To Daphne 
 the pictures were perfectly unintelligible, 
 and yet they seemed excellent both in 
 colour and drawing. They were such 
 pictures as might be painted by a great
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 95 
 
 artist whose reason had been destroyed by 
 some calamity. 
 
 "Her task," said Thoth, "is to live en- 
 tirely for colour and form — in all other 
 respects she is less intelligent than a 
 butterfly." 
 
 Daphne looked into her eyes, and saw at 
 once that she was quite distraught. 
 
 Again Thoth repeated the same gibber- 
 ish, and at last seemed to make the woman 
 understand in a blinking manner that her 
 life would no longer be made a burden. 
 To Daphne, however, it seemed that the 
 message of release had come too late — like 
 longed-for rain after the tree lias perished 
 with drought. 
 
 Suddenly a thought flashed through her 
 mind, and without asking Thoth's permis- 
 sion, she threw off her disguise and ad- 
 dressed the artist. At once she uttered 
 a low cry of pleasure, and ran to embrace
 
 96 THOTH. 
 
 Daphne. Then she turned to Thoth and 
 spoke to him in broken words. At 
 Daphne's request Thoth acted as inter- 
 preter, and told her the woman wished 
 Daphne to remain as her companion. 
 Daphne wept with pity, and Thoth led 
 her away, the artist in vain trying to 
 repress a cry of despair. 
 
 Thus they visited room after room, and 
 through all the variety of occupations in 
 which the miserable women were engaged, 
 the same features were conspicuous. Their 
 labour was, without exception, either most 
 irksome, most useless, most trifling, or 
 else degrading, and yet it evidently re- 
 quired the highest degree of cunning and 
 perseverance. 
 
 In appearance, many of the women had 
 been made physically most repulsive, — some 
 maimed, some blind, some almost shapeless 
 with distortion ; and those whose bodies
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 97 
 
 had escaped, had been deformed to a much 
 worse extent in mind. Without exception 
 they shuddered on the entry of the masks, 
 and showed their terror in the most undis- 
 guised manner. Apparently Thoth tried 
 to take away their fears, and to inform 
 them that for the future they would live 
 happily ; but they listened with dull in- 
 credulity, and seemed quite hopeless. 
 
 In the whole of this vast building there 
 was not a single creature who could have 
 kindled a spark of love in the heart of the 
 most impassioned of men. 
 
 Daphne was sickened by the spectacle, 
 and oppressed with a heavy weight of sad- 
 ness. She tried to escape, but her com- 
 panion told her it was necessary for her to 
 see more, and that he would show her the 
 least revolting of the women. Daphne 
 shrank from imagining what worse horrors 
 I lie building might contain. 
 
 G
 
 98 THOTH. 
 
 When they at last emerged the very sun- 
 light seemed polluted, and the fresh air 
 laden with pestilence. 
 
 As they made their way to the gate, 
 Thoth spoke to the hideous giantess, and 
 she showed the same surprise as her cap- 
 tives. To her Thoth spoke in a tongue 
 which Daphne understood, and told her 
 that she was to be replaced, and that until 
 another guardian came, she was to leave 
 the women unmolested. The ogress ven- 
 tured to remonstrate, but at the first sen- 
 tence Thoth sternly cried, " Darest thou 
 question me ? " and touched her hand with 
 the end of his golden staff, whereupon the 
 monster fell as one dead. As if to excuse 
 himself, Thoth said — 
 
 " There is no further use for her : it is 
 better thus." 
 
 Then said Daphne, " Is she dead ? " 
 
 "Yes," he replied, — "dead beyond all
 
 THE WOMEN OF ROYAL RACE. 99 
 
 aid ; and to all her kind will I do like- 
 wise. 
 
 They passed through the gate, and as 
 before, every one they saw treated Thoth 
 with the utmost respect and reverence. 
 But Daphne was silent, weary, and de- 
 spondent. 
 
 The horrors she had witnessed seemed 
 to pervade every nook and cranny of the 
 place. Helplessly she walked by the side 
 of Thoth, and the salutations of her little 
 servants when she entered her dwelling 
 seemed to be as unreal and distant as if 
 they came from the sky. 
 
 She felt for the first time her reason 
 t, tter — she had not strength sufficient to 
 wish to llee from the place, or to rush upon 
 her death. At last she wept passionately, 
 and sank into a troubled sleep.
 
 100 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 
 
 For some days Daphne was utterly pros- 
 trated with the scenes which she had been 
 compelled to witness. The present was 
 joyless, the future hopeless. If she re- 
 quested to be sent back to Greece, she 
 knew not if the whole land would not be 
 desolate ; and, worse than all, she again dis- 
 trusted Thoth, and doubted if he would 
 keep his promise. She began to fear 
 that she was reserved for some dreadful 
 fate. 
 
 Thoth neither came to see her nor sent 
 any message, but, as before, left the seeds
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 101 
 
 of hope to spring up in quietness. And as 
 the days passed by, slowly and gradually 
 the youth and health of Daphne began to 
 dissipate the gloomy memories, and wonder 
 and love of life took the place of heaviness 
 of spirit and fear of death. 
 
 To her own surprise she again formed 
 the wish to see Thoth, and at times almost 
 believed that he would in some wonderful 
 manner convert the scenes which she had 
 witnessed into an unreal dream. But the 
 belief was momentary and evanescent, and 
 she shuddered as she thought of the plight 
 of the miserable women and their deplor- 
 able state. Alive they were certainly, and 
 living a life worse than death. Hope rose 
 again, however, when she thought of the 
 apparent kindness of Thoth, and then she 
 tried to imagine that he was to be the 
 saviour of the women who had been cruelly 
 ill-treated by others. Surely, she thought,
 
 102 THOTH. 
 
 he himself can never have been guilty of 
 such crimes. 
 
 When her thoughts had become thus 
 kindly disposed towards Thoth, he sud- 
 denly appeared, almost as if he had been 
 able to read what was passing in her mind. 
 
 His face was as impassive and immobile 
 as ever, and he made inquiries concerning 
 Daphne's welfare as if nothing extraordi- 
 nary had happened. 
 
 But she shuddered at his callousness, and 
 indignantly cried, " Unless thou canst and 
 wilt explain to me the mystery of these 
 women, never look on me again." 
 
 " That," said he, " is my present purpose. 
 Listen with care." 
 
 Daphne signified her assent, and Thoth 
 continued — 
 
 " In order to resolve this mystery, I 
 must first make thee understand how much 
 this city is different from others in every
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 103 
 
 respect — a fact, indeed, thou canst not have 
 failed to observe. Tell me, apart from these 
 women, what thinkest thou of our people ? ' : 
 
 "They are truly a wonderful race, and 
 surpass dreams in their knowledge of arts 
 and sciences." 
 
 " And, apart from the women, what say- 
 est thou of the government ? " 
 
 " The people seem happy and contented, 
 and they appear to live in the utmost 
 obedience to their rulers through mere love 
 and respect — except these women." 
 
 "That," replied Thoth, "is the plain 
 truth. There is no city under the sun in 
 which the people are so happy, content- 
 ed, and so easily governed — except these 
 women. 
 
 " And how," he continued, " dost thou 
 imagine this wonderful stale of affairs has 
 arisen ? But it is impossible to divine, and 
 1 will tell thee.
 
 104 THOTH. 
 
 " Many hundred years ago the father of 
 the rulers of our people, a man of a Grecian 
 tribe, held a high office in Egypt. In know- 
 ledge he surpassed all men, and in know- 
 ledge lay his authority. He devised many 
 just laws, and was honoured and revered 
 both by the multitude and by the king and 
 his rulers. Had he not been thwarted, he 
 would have made the Egyptians the most 
 powerful people of the world. But he was 
 betrayed and deluded : some time I may 
 tell thee the full history — suffice it to say 
 that he was ruined and subjected to dis- 
 honour through the love of a beautiful 
 woman. 
 
 "Mark this — for it is the key-stone of our 
 policy. He contrived to seize the woman, 
 and with a number of devoted followers he 
 fled away and founded this city. Of the 
 pure Greek race were only my ancestor 
 and this woman, and about half a score of
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 105 
 
 women and men. The rest were aliens, but 
 all devoted to him, and prepared to pay 
 him most implicit obedience, and his know- 
 ledge both of men and things was so great 
 that he could exact any obedience. 
 
 " He determined to found a new state 
 entirely according to reason. The govern- 
 ment was to be entirely in the hands of 
 the wisest man, and this wisest man was to 
 be first-born of this new royal race. For 
 Thoth the first, as he is called of us, forced 
 the woman who deceived him to become 
 the mother of his children. And he be- 
 lieved, through the secrets which he had 
 wrested from nature, that, by the careful 
 choice of a mother, he could combine for 
 the future the right by birth with the right 
 by power and wisdom. 
 
 " It is this careful choice according to 
 types which has provided this city with 
 dwarfs and giants, and with workers of all
 
 106 THOTH. 
 
 kinds, with aptitudes for peculiar forms of 
 art or science. Thou hast seen for thyself 
 the results of the wisdom of the first Thoth. 
 But as regards the rulers, he was determined 
 that he would, in the course of time, utterly 
 stamp out the love of woman, and replace it 
 with loathing and disgust. To this end he 
 himself treated the woman who had changed 
 his love into hatred with the utmost cruelty 
 and contempt. At the same time, in order 
 to render her offspring healthy and intelli- 
 gent, he compelled her to labour both with 
 mind and body, and to live so as to unfold 
 her utmost powers. How meet she was to 
 be the mother of a^race of kings thou canst 
 judge thyself, if thou hast not yet forgotten 
 the statue which was her image. Her sons 
 were taught from their infancy to loathe 
 their mother, and to regard their sisters as 
 necessary evils. 
 
 "It would only be painful and useless were
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 107 
 
 I to tell thee more in detail ; suffice it to say 
 that in the building of the women thou hast 
 seen the natural result of this policy, acted 
 upon for many hundred years. Our women 
 of the race of rulers arc simply intended to 
 be mothers of particular kinds of men, and 
 in the course of generations the men of this 
 race have succeeded in acquiring for women 
 a natural hatred and loathing. 
 
 "Now thou canst understand why it was 
 my fellows — who were also of the rulers, 
 though inferior to me — treated thee and 
 thy companions with such contempt, and 
 also thou canst to some extent explain the 
 mystery of the women whom I showed to 
 thee. Thou secst only the will of the first 
 Thoth manifested through his descendants. 
 Two principles he has planted in all his 
 people — perfect obedience to his vice-regent, 
 for we say that our king is not dead but 
 asleep, and love of knowledge and of toil.
 
 108 THOTH. 
 
 Thus in all and in us of the ruling race, our 
 strongest passion is hatred and contempt 
 for women." 
 
 As he ended his narration Daphne shud- 
 dered, for she thought she read in his eyes 
 signs of lust depraved by malignant cruelty, 
 and that he regarded her with all the loath- 
 ing he had just described. Then she reflected 
 on her helpless condition and on the misery 
 she had witnessed, and swiftly determined 
 to seek a refuge in death. Already with 
 this notion in her mind she had provided 
 herself with a dagger, and with a trembling 
 hand she seized it. Then she raised her 
 courage, and looking Thoth steadfastly in 
 the face, she cried — 
 
 " I at least will never be degraded, and 
 thus I escape from thy snare." 
 
 She raised the knife, and was about to 
 plunge it into her heart when Thoth seized 
 her arm, and said —
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 109 
 
 " Stay thy hand, — thou hast heard but 
 half the story. Dost thou not wonder why, 
 hating women as we do, and being most 
 strict in keeping our race pure, we have 
 notwithstanding sought to bring strange 
 women from beyond the sea, and that we 
 have paid them honour — I at least to thee, 
 — thou dost not doubt that ? " 
 
 But Daphne replied with undisguised 
 doubtfulness, " Perchance it is but some 
 horrible device to make the cruelty more 
 exquisite." 
 
 " Nay," said he, — " listen. A generation 
 back one of our vice-regents, who was my 
 predecessor in government and also my 
 father, thought he observed signs of decay 
 in the race of rulers. He applied various 
 tests, and all gave the same result. There 
 was a falling off both in mental and bodily
 
 110 THOTH. 
 
 power. It seemed to him that in some 
 manner the training and the selection of 
 the women had been faulty, and being con- 
 fident of the good results of the plan of 
 Thoth the first, he ascribed the fault to a 
 want of rigour. Accordingly he redoubled 
 the labours and increased the tasks of the 
 women, and, at the same time, treated them 
 with still greater cruelty, for his object was 
 to bring the mind of women absolutely 
 under control. But desirous of confirming 
 his view by reasoning from the opposite, he 
 brought over from Greece a female child 
 and caused her to be received with affection 
 by the common people, and at the proper 
 age made her one of his own wives. But 
 the hatred of women was so strongly im- 
 planted in him that, though he treated her 
 with forced respect and kindness, he could 
 not show her any real love. Yet such is 
 the nature of women, she loved him though
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. Ill 
 
 she lived in constant fear and wretchedness. 
 So much did her lord despise her, that he 
 took no pains to conceal from her the secrets 
 of our government. He allowed her to dis- 
 cover that she was only the subject of an 
 experiment, and that if her child did not 
 show at an early age signs of superiority, he 
 would be destroyed. The mother's instinct 
 was alarmed, and, by the aid of her old 
 nurse, she contrived to exchange her son 
 with another infant who had been destined 
 to become vice-regent. 
 
 " Thus, in a manner contrary to our an- 
 cient laws, her son grew up to become vice- 
 regent. So long as lie was merely a child, 
 the mother contrived to see him and to 
 pour upon him her affection ; but when at 
 an early age he was removed from her 
 sight, she fell sick, and, as is our custom, 
 she was doomed to death. 
 
 " She perished, and later on I found out
 
 112 THOTH. 
 
 the fraudulent exchange, and that I — for I 
 was her son — had, as it were by accident, 
 become vice-regent. But I also discovered 
 very speedily by tests that we apply in 
 these cases, that I was gifted with powers 
 far above those of any of the royal race of 
 whom a record had been preserved. I 
 proved also by the application of new tests 
 that the real decline in the royal race had 
 been greater than my father had imagined, 
 for he had not allowed sufficiently for the 
 accumulation of knowledge. 
 
 " Perchance thou dost not understand 
 the whole meaning of this history, but it 
 matters not, for thou canst not fail to com- 
 prehend the conclusion." 
 
 At this point in the narrative he paused 
 as if in doubt, as a man who believes he 
 has solved a problem suddenly thinks of a 
 possible error. 
 
 " It is strange," he continued, speaking
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN RESOLVED. 113 
 
 more to himself than to Daphne, " that I, 
 the vice - regent of the haters of women, 
 should to a woman disclose these secrets. 
 Yet there can be no error." 
 
 Again he paused, and then with firmness 
 and dignity proceeded — 
 
 " Therefore have 1 determined, knowing 
 that I am greater in mind than any of my 
 predecessors, to utterly reverse this policy, 
 and to restore women to a position of 
 equality with man, and henceforth to deal 
 with the ruling as we have always dealt 
 with the subject race. Yet, fearing the 
 effects of long subservience and degrada- 
 tion, I thought it best to go back to the 
 origin of our race, and to bring maidens 
 from the best State in Greece to form our 
 new queens, as was the case with mine own 
 mother. In all other respects I have kept 
 up our ancient rules ; and, as I shall ex- 
 plain to thee hereafter, I propose to carry 
 
 H
 
 114 THOTH. 
 
 out to the full the scheme of the first 
 Thoth for the conquest and government of 
 the whole world." 
 
 Daphne had listened to his explanations 
 with wonder, and a great weight was lifted 
 from her heart. Her eyes bespoke grati- 
 tude and admiration. For a moment she 
 desired to throw herself into his arms, to 
 pour her soul into his, and, so quick is 
 thought, to love with all her being the 
 man whom but lately she had abhorred. 
 
 It was, however, for a moment only that 
 joyous thoughts thus filled her mind ; for, 
 as she looked in his face, she saw no signs 
 of responsive affection. As before, Thoth 
 appeared perfectly impassive, and if he 
 showed any feeling, it was simply the satis- 
 faction of a philosopher who has explained 
 in an intelligible manner a difficult prob- 
 lem. He had, indeed, spoken of the change
 
 MYSTERY OF THE WOMEN EESOLVED. 115 
 
 in the treatment of the women of the royal 
 race in precisely the same way as he might 
 have spoken of a new method of build- 
 ing the royal palaces. Again the spirit of 
 Daphne was bowed down, and her hopes 
 vanished. Thoth, it seemed to her, if no 
 longer a monster, was yet not a man. 
 
 She sank down silently on her couch, and 
 waited for further explanations as listlessly 
 as a man struck by a heavy blow waits for 
 a return of his senses. 
 
 But not long did she remain thus calm 
 and spiritless, for Thoth had by no means 
 as yet exhausted his powers of agitation.
 
 116 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THOTH FORSWEARS HIS OATH. 
 
 " Before, however, we conquer the earth," 
 continued Thoth, in the same unimpassionecl 
 yet dignified manner, "it is necessary to 
 establish the new order which I have set 
 forth in our own city. It is needless to 
 say that this will be a matter of some diffi- 
 culty. Thou hast seen for thyself how re- 
 pugnant are women to our ruling class, and 
 that it is their nature now to treat them 
 with cruelty and contempt. Still, with us 
 the task is not hopeless, and, indeed, is 
 quite possible. For, in the first place, 
 obedience to the vice-regent is by far the
 
 THOTH FORSWEARS HIS OATH. 117 
 
 most powerful motive of conduct, and also, 
 in every respect our higher ranks are slaves, 
 not of any passion, but of pure reason. 
 Therefore I could say to my fellows of 
 royal blood — such and such are the reasons, 
 and such is my will ; and the obedience 
 must follow as surely as day follows the 
 rising sun." 
 
 As he spoke thus, a will of adamant 
 shone through his eyes ; but a moment 
 afterwards the troubled look of one who 
 thinks he discovers an error in his proof 
 appeared in his face, and he paused for 
 some time in deep thought. 
 
 "But," he continued, "it is no light 
 matter to upset altogether the growth of 
 many hundred years, and to depart from 
 the will of my great ancestor, who in all 
 else showed the perfection of wisdom. 
 The ways of error are as many as the 
 paths of the sea, and I must take heed lest
 
 118 THOTH. 
 
 I go astray. Therefore I have determined 
 on two things as preliminary. The first is 
 no concern of thine, and I need waste but 
 few words upon it. Suffice it to say that 
 I will take steps to see that this change is 
 approved by the first Thoth and all the 
 vice-regents, as well as by the present 
 race." 
 
 Daphne looked at him with horror and 
 amazement. 
 
 " Surely," she said, " thou canst not go 
 down to the grave and consult with the 
 dead ? " 
 
 " That," he replied, " is, as I said, no 
 concern of thine. But nothing must be 
 done to shake the bonds of obedience, and 
 nothing left undone to avoid the possibility 
 of error. The fortune of the whole world 
 and of the future generations of men de- 
 pends upon this act." 
 
 Daphne looked at him steadfastly, half sus-
 
 THOTH FORSWEARS HIS OATH. 119 
 
 pecting madness, but his dark eyes gleamed 
 with intelligence and firmness of purpose. 
 
 ' Therefore," he said, as if speaking to 
 himself, " I will be advised by the first 
 king and all the vice-regents. In this 
 manner obedience and the rule of reason 
 will even be strengthened. This is the 
 first precaution. 
 
 " The second safeguard," he said, looking 
 on Daphne as an archer looks at an arrow 
 intended for a fateful purpose, " is of more 
 interest to thee. 
 
 "At first I had intended at the same 
 time to compel all the men of the royal 
 race to take for themselves honoured con- 
 sorts of pure Grecian blood, but chance 
 or nature willed otherwise, and thy com- 
 panions have all perished — chance or na- 
 ture," he repeated, "not treachery — not 
 disobedience," — and again for a moment 
 he seemed to doubt.
 
 120 THOTH. 
 
 " Thy companions have perished, and 
 perchance it is better so for my pur- 
 pose. For, after much consideration, I 
 have decided that the best plan is to 
 make at first a single experiment. Ac- 
 cordingly I will explain to our chiefs 
 my reasons and intentions, and will 
 offer them an example in my own 
 person. 
 
 " I will show them that it is possible to 
 honour women without the madness of 
 love, and that the children born of equals 
 are superior. Everything shall be done 
 with full deliberation, and an imposing 
 ceremony shall be invented to show that 
 [ am not driven by the passion which our 
 great ancestor dreaded." 
 
 He spoke rapidly, and Daphne listened 
 to him without grasping his meaning at 
 the moment. His words had entered her 
 ears, but had not penetrated her heart.
 
 THOTH FORSWEARS HIS OATH. 121 
 
 But in an instant every word became a 
 flaming dart and pierced her to the quick, 
 when he said — 
 
 "Therefore, in two months from this 
 day, with all imaginable pomp, I will make 
 thee my queen." 
 
 Daphne sprang up in the greatest ex- 
 citement, and quivering with rage and 
 indignation. 
 
 "Thou stony image," she cried, "know 
 that I have not yet learned — no, nor ever 
 will learn — to obey thee, unnatural one, 
 inhuman ! 1 would rather wed the lowest 
 slave in Athens than thee. Has thy 
 hideous descent left in thee no trace of 
 manly feeling, and no knowledge of the 
 heart of a woman ? I would rather sec 
 the whole world desolate than mingle my 
 blood with thine ! " 
 
 Thoth listened to her with undisguised
 
 122 THOTH. 
 
 astonishment, and replied to her quite 
 calmly — 
 
 "But what more couldst thou desire? 
 Thou shalt be treated by every one, from 
 myself downwards, with the most obse- 
 quious honour. Thou shalt be queen of 
 the world, and the founder of the greatest 
 race the earth has ever borne. Surely 
 thou hast misunderstood my meaning. 
 Say in what I have failed." 
 
 Daphne was somewhat soothed by the 
 calmness of the reply, but her pride was 
 still wounded. She resented the coldness 
 of Thoth's reasoning, and she replied with 
 passion — 
 
 " What more would I have ? I would 
 have one thing only, the first and the last 
 — love — human love." 
 
 "And what," said Thoth, with an ap- 
 pearance of intellectual interest, "is love? 
 What more than I have promised ? "
 
 THOTH FORSWEARS HIS OATH. 123 
 
 The innocence of the answer of this 
 wisest of men disarmed Daphne. 
 
 " Thy honour and respect could no more 
 kindle a spark of love than all the power 
 of the ocean could kindle a little fire. 
 Eead again, if thou hast the record, the 
 story of thy ancestor, and know that I 
 must be loved as blindly as he loved the 
 woman who, thou sayest, afterwards be- 
 trayed him." 
 
 She glided up to Thoth and took his 
 hand. It was cool and steady. She looked 
 up in his face, but his features were un- 
 moved and his eyes passionless. 
 
 " Shall I tell thee," she whispered, " how 
 thou canst tell if thou really lovest with 
 all thy heart? I have never loved, and 
 yet I know." 
 
 By the strange contrariety of her nature, 
 she suddenly longed to make this man, 
 whom she had just addressed with scorn,
 
 124 THOTH. 
 
 her ardent lover. For the moment she 
 forgot herself and her situation. Pride 
 and dignity left her, and she only desired, 
 with all her force, to subdue this man. 
 She spoke to him as if she loved him, 
 fearless of reproach, unmindful of opinion. 
 "Love me," she said, "and one look 
 shall make me tremble — one caress stop 
 my pulses. My heart shall be lost in 
 thine, like a drop of water in a burning 
 desert. Nothing but death shall separate 
 us. Wilt thou not leave the weary pursuit 
 of knowledge, to read without effort the 
 open book of my soul? Look through 
 mine eyes — is not the prize worth grasp- 
 ing? Am I not beautiful, and throbbing 
 with the fulness of youthful life ? See, 
 my hand trembles in thine, and for one 
 look of love I would kiss thy lips." 
 
 She spoke as if in a dream ; but sud- 
 denly the hardness of Thoth, like the blow
 
 THOTH POKSWEARS HIS OATH. 125 
 
 of cold steel, dispelled the fascination. 
 She shrank back, her cheeks burned with 
 shame, and she hid her face with her 
 hands. 
 
 Then Tlioth spoke to her words which 
 tore her heart in pieces, and made her 
 helpless with dismay. 
 
 "I regret," he said, "that thou hast 
 utterly failed to grasp my purpose and 
 to understand my position. Dost thou 
 think that I will surrender my soul to 
 the madness of love ? Shall I keep at 
 my side a passionate creature who will 
 seek to betray and thwart me, and destroy 
 by her animal nature the toil of genera- 
 tions ? It is easy for me to imitate my 
 father, and to bring a child from Greece 
 to train according to my will. 
 
 " Surely I will do this ; and as for thee, 
 thou shalt find a chamber in our women's 
 palace, ;iii<l thou and thy children shall
 
 126 THOTH. 
 
 be the slaves of my will. Henceforth my 
 oath is no more binding than if I had 
 sworn it to a dog or a slave." 
 With these words he departed.
 
 127 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A WEARY INTERVAL. 
 
 After Thotli had left her, Daphne fell into 
 the most gloomy train of reflection that 
 hitherto had oppressed her since she arrived 
 in this strange city. Before, in her despair 
 some gleams of hope had always appeared, 
 but now there was nothing but black dark- 
 ness. She had begun to trust Thotli im- 
 plicitly; after the many trials of his good 
 faith, her trust had grown into perfect con- 
 fidence, and now it was shattered for ever. 
 She had seen in the man's eyes a most 
 terrible manifestation of passion, and she 
 had no doubt, that she would be treated
 
 128 THOTH. 
 
 even more dreadfully than the women she 
 had seen in the abode of horror and lust. 
 Worse than all, she despised herself for the 
 way in which she had in reality led up to 
 such a climax. 
 
 Eegretful thoughts succeeded one an- 
 other rapidly. Thoth was evidently a 
 great ruler, who had been accustomed to 
 the most slavish obedience. He was, or 
 had been, desirous of effecting a revolution 
 in the treatment of women, and he had 
 for months treated her with deference and 
 tenderness. Had she rejected his proposal 
 as calmly as it was made, had she not at- 
 tempted to get fire from snow, at any rate 
 he would have kept to his word and re- 
 stored her to Greece. She ought to have 
 understood how the nature of the man 
 must have been distorted by his descent 
 through generations of women-haters, and 
 to have wondered at the advances which
 
 A WEARY INTERVAL. 129 
 
 he had made instead of expecting the im- 
 possible. 
 
 Never, she thought, could she have be- 
 come his wife, but she might have been 
 his devoted friend. She would have en- 
 couraged him in his projects of reform, 
 — she could have liberated her fellow- 
 women. 
 
 Now all was over. She felt covered 
 with shame as she thought how she must 
 have appeared to Thoth, — worse than a 
 sensuous Persian — a mere animal. How 
 he must have despised her when she actu- 
 ally suggested that he should surrender 
 himself to her, as the first of his name to 
 the woman who deceived him. 
 
 She despised herself, and for the moment 
 her spirit was crushed. She longed for 
 sonir 33 mpal liy. 
 
 She called on her little servants — there 
 was no answer. She went to the door — it 
 
 1
 
 130 THOTH. 
 
 was fastened. She was confined in soli- 
 tude. She wept bitterly. 
 
 • ••••••• 
 
 But after a time her courage and resolu- 
 tion revived, and she thought of the only 
 means of escape now open — death by her 
 own hand. 
 
 The sun was high in the heaven, and the 
 garden of the palace was still open to her. 
 She determined to drink again of the fresh- 
 ness of life before she died. 
 
 She walked along the beautiful paths, 
 and watched with pleasure the birds and 
 insects. Earth and air seemed full of life, 
 and death seemed terrible. She recalled 
 the wretched fate of the heroines of her 
 native tragic poets. Before she had often 
 wondered why they had not put a term to 
 their sufferings by a moment's pain. She 
 knew now. 
 
 It seemed to her a thing impossible in
 
 A WEARY INTERVAL. 131 
 
 nature — deliberately to take one's life, even 
 to avoid misery. She repented that she 
 had not already done the deed when passion 
 had given her courage. The point of the 
 dagger seemed very cold and hard, — life 
 seemed very sweet, and in the glaring sun 
 the gloom of death seemed most black and 
 dismal. At least, if permitted, she must 
 wait till night. 
 
 Then she thought on what might have 
 been her fate — on love unknown and hopes 
 shattered. 
 
 Again her courage and resolution van- 
 ished, and she trembled. She longed with 
 every fibre of her being for some creature 
 to speak with. She almost began to talk 
 to the birds and lizards. 
 
 Suddenly her heart stood still with joy — 
 she heard through the trees the twittering 
 song of one of the pigmies, and she rushed 
 in pursuit.
 
 132 THOTH. 
 
 She soon reached the little being — a 
 tiny girl, playing among flowers. Daphne 
 raised her in her arms and kissed her pas- 
 sionately with tears and laughter, shower- 
 ing upon her loving words and caresses. 
 The little maiden responded with unmixed 
 pleasure, and said to her — 
 
 " Why does Daphne weep ? What is her 
 trouble ? I will run and send a message to 
 our lord. Thoth is very wise and good, — 
 he can put an end to any trouble." 
 
 " Alas ! " said Daphne, "it is Thoth who 
 is the cause of my distress." 
 
 "Ah!" said the pigmy, laughing, "that 
 is what we sometimes think ; but it is never 
 right — our lord is very wise and good." 
 
 " But," said Daphne, " your troubles, 
 little one, must be as small as your bodies, 
 and this is a very different case." 
 
 " Nay," rejoined the girl, still laughing ; 
 " we, too, think our troubles very great
 
 A WEARY INTERVAL. 133 
 
 and very new. But Thoth makes every- 
 thing right. Now I will tell you what 
 happened to me to-day. I was sailing in 
 a little boat in the fountain, and I got to 
 the centre and landed, and my boat drifted 
 away, and I cannot swim. I cried until I 
 slept, and when I awoke I found my boat 
 at my feet, and I am sure that Thoth had 
 put it there." 
 
 The charming simplicity and the guile- 
 less confidence of the little maiden renewed 
 hope in Daphne's breast, and she kissed her 
 and said — 
 
 "Wilt thou try to take a message to 
 Thoth from me ? But, alas ! for my punish- 
 ment the doors arc fastened." 
 
 "They will release me," said the pigmy, 
 " when they hear my voice. I have done 
 no harm all to-day. I believe Thoth must 
 have left me in the garden to be thy 
 messenger."
 
 134 THOTH. 
 
 "But," said Daphne, "thou wast asleep 
 on the island." 
 
 : ' So much the easier to leave me," 
 laughed the pigmy. " But tell me the 
 message, and I will run." 
 
 Daphne put down the child, and sat 
 down herself, burying her head in her 
 hand, and tried to think of a message 
 which might move Thoth. Shame and 
 pride, not unmixed with dread, made the 
 task difficult, and the pigmy began to grow 
 restless. 
 
 " Shall I ask Thoth to come ? — once be- 
 fore I took such a message for thee," 
 
 At last, urged by her affectionate coun- 
 sellor, Daphne wrote on a tablet these 
 words : " Daphne still believes in the 
 promise which Thoth made on leaving 
 Athens, and prays in all humility that 
 she may be restored to some Grecian city. 
 She is not equal to the high position
 
 A WEARY INTERVAL. 135 
 
 in which Thoth would have placed her. 
 She is only a woman with the common 
 feelings of nature, and no superior be- 
 ing. But oaths are binding even on the 
 gods." 
 
 She sent the pigmy before her to the 
 palace, for she was too anxious to ac- 
 company her. 
 
 After a long interval, however, she fol- 
 lowed, and found the apartment empty. 
 The pigmy had been liberated, and a re- 
 past had been set in the usual place. 
 Hope again arose in Daphne's breast, 
 though she still feared, from the absence 
 of her little servants, that all was not well. 
 She was too sick at heart to eat or drink, 
 and waited in anxious expectation. At 
 last night fell, but there was no answer of 
 any kind. She lay down on the couch and 
 tried to sleep. 
 
 After some hours of the deepest silence,
 
 136 THOTH. 
 
 she thought she heard a footfall near the 
 head of the couch. 
 
 She started up, and beheld Thoth two or 
 three paces distant.
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TRANSFORMATION. 
 
 Daphne's first thought was, that the hour 
 of her destruction had come at last. She 
 clung to her dagger, and in the presence 
 of actual danger her courage was restored 
 to the full. 
 
 Her nice was pale, but her eyes flashed. 
 
 She looked at Thoth, expecting him to 
 utter her doom, but he stood silently with 
 his eyes fixed on the ground, apparently 
 in deep thought. 
 
 How long they remained thus she could 
 never tell, — whether moments or hours. 
 Time was effaced, and she and this
 
 138 THOTH. 
 
 man were all that was left in the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 At last Daphne broke the silence. 
 
 " What is my fate ? Wilt thou keep to 
 thy first promise or thy last threat ? " 
 
 Then Thoth raised his eyes and filled her 
 heart with wonder. A thrill of fearful 
 pleasure passed through her frame as she 
 thought she saw in his regard no trace 
 of hatred or cruelty, hut the overpowering 
 love of a strong nature. 
 
 She was not left long in suspense, for 
 Thoth said to her, with a trembling 
 voice — 
 
 " Daphne, I love thee as never yet man 
 loved woman. Against my will, against 
 my belief, in a moment, love has seized 
 me — love as strong and irrevocable as 
 death that, too, comes in a moment." 
 
 Then he advanced towards her, and 
 seizing her hand, kissed it passionately.
 
 TRANSFORMATION. 139 
 
 He tried to embrace her, but she drew 
 back, afraid. The change in the man was 
 too sudden and unexpected. She knew 
 not what to think. Delight was mingled 
 with distrust, and she knew not which 
 would gain the victory. His kisses in- 
 flamed her heart, but the horror of the 
 past was too recent to be altogether for- 
 gotten. 
 
 She longed to be alone, and yet, at 
 the same time, she wished to ask Tlioth 
 a multitude of questions. She wished to 
 know his whole nature, and as yet she 
 was afraid to give him her finger-tip. 
 Overpowered by- the conflict of emotions, 
 she sank down on the couch, and listened 
 to Thoth as if in a dream. 
 
 Thoth respected her diffidence, and for a 
 time reason again seemed to take command 
 of his nature, and he spoke calmly even 
 of his new-born passion. The words of
 
 140 THOTH. 
 
 love which she had spoken to him, and 
 which, at first, had made no impression, 
 had, he related, as soon as he left her, 
 begun to recur to him as if she were still 
 present. 
 
 He was quite frank. He told her that 
 he had ordered her imprisonment, and 
 had even tried to think of the details of 
 her punishment ; but in spite of his strong- 
 est efforts, whenever he thought of her 
 he recalled her passionate appeal of love. 
 At first he was astonished and bewildered — 
 the whole affair seemed to him incredible 
 and ridiculous. But the memory of her 
 grasp made his hand burn, and her beauti- 
 ful face chased away every thought. Then 
 came her message, and he felt drawn by 
 an irresistible force to see her. It seemed 
 to him as if hitherto he had lived in a 
 dream, and had only just awaked to the 
 reality of life.
 
 TRANSFORMATION. 141 
 
 Again and again lie described to her 
 the revolution in his nature, — by endless 
 comparisons sought to show her how sud- 
 den and complete it had been. His love 
 was the sun banishing night, and hiding 
 the stars from the cold contemplation of 
 the astronomer. It was the sudden re- 
 bound of a tall young palm which had 
 been bent to the earth with thongs. It 
 was a storm of burning sand, effacing 
 alike the road before and behind. It was 
 the cleaving by an earthquake of the solid 
 ground, swallowing up in a moment man's 
 handiwork for ages. It was the tree which 
 blossomed once in a thousand years, the 
 first flight of a bird released from captivity, 
 the first living prey of the young lion. 
 
 Then after he had exhausted language 
 and imagination in portraying the degree 
 and violence of his passion, the natural 
 bent of his mind made him seek for an
 
 142 THOTH. 
 
 explanation which would make the unrea- 
 sonable reasonable, and the ludicrous full 
 of dignity and pathos. He proved to 
 Daphne that life is not truly in the indi- 
 vidual but in the race : his race was a 
 giant whose nature had been distorted 
 for a long period, and then suddenly had 
 asserted its strength. The loveless lives 
 of his predecessors had, by a necessary 
 reaction, made him capable of an infinite 
 depth of passion. Love, instead of being 
 stamped out and crushed, as the first 
 Thoth had supposed, had only been stored 
 up from generation to generation. It was 
 a transcendent passion, which did not obey 
 the ordinary laws of life and descent. It 
 was part of the very nature of life, and 
 could only be destroyed by death. Besides 
 this, his mother was by birth a child of the 
 instincts and passions common to the races 
 of mankind.
 
 TRANSFORMATION. 143 
 
 The search for reasons brought back 
 Thoth, as far as was possible, to his former 
 calmness of demeanour, and he began to 
 talk of the future. He assumed all the 
 time that the declaration of his passion was 
 all that Daphne had required of him, and 
 she had been too much overcome by sur- 
 prise to interrupt the torrent of his elo- 
 quence. 
 
 When, however, he spoke in a definite 
 manner of their union in a short time, 
 she was driven to take up an attitude of 
 defence. Much as Thoth had advanced in 
 her esteem, she could not at once respond 
 to his passion, and she was troubled by 
 painful reminiscences. She said to him — 
 
 " Tell me one thing in all sincerity. 
 Wilt thou still, if I wish it, send me back 
 to Greece ? " 
 
 His face became gloomy, but he an- 
 swered at clue —
 
 144 THOTH. 
 
 " I swear it." 
 
 " Even if I do not love thee ? " 
 
 " Even so." 
 
 " And if I wish it, thou wilt never trouble 
 me again ? " 
 
 "Never." 
 
 " And thou wilt tell me everything, and 
 explain every mystery in this place ? ' : 
 
 " Everything ; but, Daphne, judge not 
 hastily and harshly. For I will change 
 every law and custom that is to thee dis- 
 pleasing. With thy love," he continued, 
 in a vein of enthusiasm, " I shall be greater 
 in every way than my great ancestor. He 
 has impressed his will on this race for 
 hundreds of years, and I will impress 
 mine for thousands, and thy will shall 
 be mine. Thou shalt be queen of the 
 whole world, and the lives of the races 
 of men shall be fashioned by thee. No 
 goddess was ever fated to have such
 
 TRANSFORMATION. 145 
 
 might as my love shall give thee for a 
 dower. " 
 
 Thoth seemed completely transformed, 
 and his whole being was tremulous with 
 passion. Daphne felt her power of resist- 
 ance failing, as the strength of a mortal 
 fails before the desire of some deity. 
 Thoth became to her the perfect embodi- 
 ment of manhood and of love. 
 
 She rose from her seat, and drew nearer 
 to him. 
 
 She looked through his eyes, and the 
 depth of his devotion seemed unfathom- 
 able. She could doubt no longer. 
 
 She raised her nice to his, and lie covered 
 it with kisses. 
 
 Then he whispered to her, " Tell me 
 what more I must do or promise. Must 
 love such as ours await some ceremonial 
 f<.r its fulfilment ? This is to me the be- 
 
 k
 
 146 THOTH. 
 
 ginning of life. Choose thou for us what 
 form the marriage-rites shall take, for I, 
 alas ! know nothing." 
 
 At once the spell was broken, for Daphne 
 remembered the horrible unions which the 
 haters of women had hitherto made. She 
 shrank from Thoth, and cried — 
 
 " Leave me ! leave me ! How can I for- 
 get that the women of thy race have been 
 wooed with torture, and that thou thyself 
 in all likelihood hast gone through rites of 
 ingenious cruelty. I cannot believe in a 
 future that rests on such a past." 
 
 But Thoth rejoined with passionate 
 eagerness, and with every sign of truth, 
 " Believe me, Daphne, I myself ordained 
 none of these things." 
 
 " But," she said, " thou hast permitted 
 these terrible customs to live, and thy 
 fellow-rulers have been guilty." 
 
 "Canst thou not," he replied, "separate
 
 TRANSFORMATION. 147 
 
 the past from the future ? I, at least, have 
 not offended in this manner." 
 
 But Daphne made no response, and 
 Thotli continued — 
 
 " Every one who has thus done shall be 
 punished in any way thou may est choose 
 — if thou wilt, with death." 
 
 "Nay," she said, "I will be guilty of no 
 man's death." 
 
 " Then," said Thoth, " I will change their 
 natures, as mine has been changed. Wilt 
 thou be mine if, in a full assembly of our 
 ruling race, thou art chosen as t lie honoured 
 queen of the new era ? " 
 
 Daphne ivinniin.'d silent, and Thoth said 
 abruptly — 
 
 " I must give thee time for reflection. 
 I know that I shall never change. In 
 seven days I will come for thy answer." 
 
 He sainted her witli reverence, and de-
 
 148 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GREEK AND BARBARIAN. 
 
 Hour followed hour with unendurable slow- 
 ness, until the appointed day arrived for 
 Daphne to declare her decision. With sun- 
 rise Thoth requested permission for the 
 interview ; but Daphne replied that she 
 would meet him at noon in the garden. 
 
 In the absence of other counsellors, she 
 had determined to take advice from the 
 full blaze of the sun, and to listen to the 
 voice of nature in the whispering trees and 
 the peaceful murmuring of the waters. 
 
 At length Thoth appeared at the time 
 and place agreed upon. A glance at his
 
 GREEK AND BARBARIAN. 149 
 
 face showed that his love had grown with 
 the lapse of time, and Daphne felt a thrill 
 of delight. 
 
 He saw the look of pleasure in her face, 
 and with a cry rushed to embrace her ; but 
 by a gesture she stopped his advance, and 
 said to him with forced calmness — 
 
 " Thou still lovest me as much as be- 
 fore ? " 
 
 "Thou canst not doubt it," he replied; 
 and she read the truth in the trembling of 
 his voice and the passion of his face. 
 
 " Wilt thou consent to my conditions — 
 the firm resolve of my vigils ? " 
 
 " I consent before I hear them," he re- 
 joined. " Do with me as thou wilt." 
 
 "They arc hard," she said; "but after 
 what I have witnessed I cannot take less. 
 First of all, every mystery of thy race and 
 of thy power must be disclosed." 
 
 " I consent," he said.
 
 150 THOTH. 
 
 "All thy people, including the ruling 
 race, must accept me as their queen." 
 
 " I will compel them," he murmured. 
 
 " When I am thoroughly satisfied on these 
 points, thou must return with me to Greece." 
 
 " I will go with thee to the ends of the 
 earth," he murmured. 
 
 " And if," she said, " when I return to 
 my country, this city of thine shall appear, 
 as is possible, too dreadful a place in which 
 to dwell, I shall be free to remain ? " 
 
 " Thou wilt never wish to do so," he 
 said, with resolution. 
 
 " And if, when I hear again the familiar 
 voices of my native land, and see the joyous 
 faces of the people, thou shalt seem to me 
 an alien, and unlovable, thou wilt leave 
 me for ever ? " 
 
 " But this cannot be," he rejoined. 
 
 " I know not," she said ; " but if it should 
 so chance, then thou wilt consent ? "
 
 GREEK AND BARBARIAN. 151 
 
 " I consent even to this," lie said ; " but 
 it can never be." 
 
 Tears stood in bis eyes ; and Daphne 
 said quickly — 
 
 " But if, as my heart tells me is more 
 probable, I yield to thy love, and thy will 
 becomes my will, then thou wilt, first of 
 all, wed me according to the custom of the 
 Greeks ? " 
 
 "That will I do most joyfully," he said. 
 " I will prepare to return with thee as 
 speedily as possible." And again he wished 
 to embrace her. 
 
 " Nay," she said. " Thou shalt not touch 
 my finger again until we return to Greece ; 
 and first of all, there is much that I must 
 learn of thee and thy people." 
 
 " Ask, and I will answer," he said. 
 
 "But," she replied, " I know not what to 
 ask. Teach me from the beginning. Thy 
 city is planted in the midst of an impene-
 
 152 THOTH. 
 
 trable desert, and thy people seem few in 
 number, and yet thou sayest thou wilt 
 make me queen of the world. How can 
 this be ? " 
 
 " Power," he replied, " does not lie in 
 numbers. We have weapons unknown to 
 the rest of the world. The secret of our 
 strength I will explain." 
 
 "Then," she continued, "I would fain 
 know by what spell all thy fellows are kept 
 in such perfect obedience. And strange 
 words of thine run in mine ears, — of death 
 and sleep, of a king above thee in power, 
 and of vice-regents whom thou canst con- 
 sult. Even in this glaring sun the air 
 seems laden with foreboding. If thou 
 wouldst gain my love and confidence, clear 
 away all these mysteries ; for they seem to 
 me in many respects contrary to nature, 
 and certain in the end to bring down the 
 wrath of the immortal gods."
 
 153 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE DOOM OF THE FIRST THOTH. 
 
 " The immortal gods," said Thoth, " are 
 but the vague memories of great men, 
 distorted in passing from generation to 
 generation." 
 
 Daphne shuddered. " Dost thou not 
 fear to speak thus ? " 
 
 " I fear not," he said, " to speak the 
 truth. But listen and judge for thyself 
 if the first Thoth, who was born more 
 than two thousand years ago, is not 
 greater and more to be feared than any 
 god recorded in Grecian fables. Thou 
 seest yonder the roof of a large building
 
 154 THOTH. 
 
 into which thou hast not yet entered. 
 In that structure sleeps the first Thoth, 
 surrounded by many generations of his 
 direct descendants. Consider this well, 
 for what I say I mean in all its fulness. 
 This king and his vice-regents are not 
 dead, but sleeping. Thou hast heard of 
 the custom of the Egyptians of embalm- 
 ing their dead. That is but a foolish 
 ceremony, the reason of which has long 
 been lost, — it is the husk of the kernel 
 of Thoth's reason. He discovered a per- 
 fect method of suspending life for an 
 indefinite period, and in the prime of 
 his life his son and vice-regent, in ac- 
 cordance therewith, laid him down to 
 sleep. He and his brethren also, at the 
 appointed age, were clothed with the ap- 
 pearance of death, and a new vice-regent 
 appointed. For one day in every genera- 
 tion our great father is roused from his
 
 THE DOOM OF THE FIRST THOTH. 155 
 
 sleep, to invest his vice-regent with autho- 
 rity. I myself was so invested ; I myself 
 have spoken face to face with this most 
 ancient one. Never on this earth was 
 any solemnity practised by man so cal- 
 culated to ensure reverence and obedience. 
 From the middle of the throng of death- 
 like sleepers this man rises up, and in a 
 short time feels again the full tide of life 
 in his veins. He listens to the progress 
 made in the achievement of his plans, and 
 the growth of the power of his race. He 
 commands his latest descendants to obey 
 the new vice-recent, and having; for one 
 day put in force his reason and will, he 
 again surrenders himself to sleep." 
 
 Daphne was awe-struck by this narra- 
 tive, but with an effort she said, " And 
 do not the other sleepers also awake ? " 
 
 "They," replied Thotli, "are destined 
 to wake only when the task of our race
 
 156 THOTH. 
 
 is on the eve of completion, to take part 
 in our final triumph, and that is no less 
 than the conquest of the whole earth." 
 
 " Tell me," she said, fascinated by a 
 weird foreboding of horror, " how this 
 can be ? " 
 
 " The task imposed upon us by the 
 supreme will," he replied, " has been two- 
 fold. In the first place, we have had to 
 make perfect mechanical contrivances, by 
 which we can journey with incredible 
 speed through the air. That this has 
 been accomplished thou thyself hast been 
 a witness ; and for each of the sleepers a 
 car has been prepared which surpasses in 
 speed the flight of birds and the rush of 
 the storm." 
 
 Daphne recalled in all its sublimity her 
 own aerial journey, and she could not 
 doubt the truth of Thoth's words. 
 
 Then he continued — " But a harder task
 
 THE DOOM OF THE FIRST THOTH. 157 
 
 was ours, and that also has been at length 
 completed. We have now at our disposal 
 the means of destroying every living being 
 on the face of the earth. The day is near 
 at hand when these sleepers are to become 
 the messengers of death. The earth shall 
 be made desolate, and in time repeopled 
 from this city. In a few hundred years 
 all the world shall be inhabited by many 
 races and classes of men, all perfect in 
 their kind, and all governed by the 
 highest reason." 
 
 Then Daphne cried out in horror — " Do 
 ye intend to destroy all people living ex- 
 cept those in this place ? " 
 
 " That," said he, " was the design of 
 the first Thoth, and had the means been 
 ready fifty years ago, such would have 
 been the case undoubtedly. But, as I 
 have explained to thee, 1 have formed 
 the opinion tli.it in his endeavour to ex-
 
 158 THOTH. 
 
 terminate love in the ruling class, the 
 first Thoth made an error. Accordingly, 
 we must save some of the best women of 
 thy race, and if thou wilt thou shalt have 
 the selection. Now thou canst judge of 
 the truth of my promises, and I will make 
 one promise more. Know that I have 
 penetrated deeper than my ancestor into 
 the mysteries of life and death, and thou 
 and I can live in all the fulness of life for 
 hundreds of years. Thus thou shalt be 
 as a goddess ruling over the earth. Tell 
 me, Daphne, if the prospect does not 
 surpass thy dreams ? " 
 
 He spoke with all the enthusiasm of a 
 man who is on the eve of accomplishing 
 a most honourable deed. 
 
 But Daphne answered him, glowing with 
 indignation and anger — 
 
 " Thy projects seem to me abominable, 
 and unutterably loathsome."
 
 THE DOOM OF THE FIRST THOTH. 159 
 
 " How so ? " lie asked, witli unfeigned 
 wonder. 
 
 " Thou speakcst as if all mankind were 
 noxious serpents and raging beasts. To 
 me, a Grecian maiden, thou talkest calmly 
 of destroying the whole Grecian race. 
 Thou wouldst found a universal tyranny 
 on universal slaughter, and so degraded 
 is thy nature that thou dost not see any- 
 thing horrible in such monstrous crime. 
 I despise myself for ever having listened 
 to thy love. Kill me, torture me, abuse 
 me, I am in thy power, but never will I 
 share in thy unholy schemes." 
 
 Then Thoth said to her — "Take heed; 
 even my passion will not bear such a 
 strain." 
 
 " I would thy passion were turned to 
 hatred," she cried, " for thou canst not 
 hate me as 1 lute thee ! " 
 
 For a time it scenic. 1 as if anger and
 
 160 THOTH. 
 
 scorn would altogether destroy his love ; 
 but Daphne quailed not, and in her wrath 
 became even more beautiful and majestic. 
 
 The struggle in Thoth's mind did not 
 endure long. 
 
 " True it is," he said, " that I cannot 
 hate thee ; my love is overpowering. But 
 I cannot shatter to its foundations the 
 edifice which my ancestors have raised. 
 Rather would I make the whole world life- 
 less. I will give thee a day to reflect."
 
 161 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THK REVOLT OF NATUBE. 
 
 At Daphne's request Thotli departed, 
 but as lie left her he said with great 
 emphasis — 
 
 " Remember that I have spoken the 
 truth, and if thou wilt thou mayest be- 
 come queen of the earth ! " 
 
 His words excited her heart to a 1 turn- 
 ing activity, and thought after thought 
 rushed swiftly through her mind. At 
 first she tried to persuade herself that 
 he must have told her incredible fictions, 
 but the more she thought the less she 
 doubted. She had seen enough of Thoth's
 
 162 THOTH. 
 
 power to believe to the full in the truth 
 of his narrative. She had seen him with 
 a touch of his staff strike dead the ogress, 
 and she had had abundant proofs of the 
 absolute obedience of his people. 
 
 For a time, however, she wondered how 
 a few hundred men could possibly destroy 
 all the nations of the earth. She thought 
 of Thoth and his dread compatriots flying 
 through the air, and discharging missiles 
 on the helpless people beneath ; but even 
 with this advantage it seemed to her that 
 numbers must prevail. 
 
 She said to herself, " Even Apollo's 
 arm would grow weary of such endless 
 archery ; " and then, suddenly, she re- 
 membered how the arrows of Apollo had 
 smitten the Greeks before Troy. 
 
 Plague and pestilence had been the shafts 
 hurled from his bow. She recalled Thoth's 
 allusion to Apollo, and a dreadful pre-
 
 THE REVOLT OF NATURE. 163 
 
 sentiment told her that it was in this 
 manner that the nations of the earth 
 were to be destroyed. In the same 
 moment all the circumstances of Thoth's 
 first appearance in Athens flashed through 
 her mind : she remembered the grim in- 
 difference of the false merchants to the 
 plague, and it was but a step to accuse 
 them of bringing with them to Greece 
 this unheard-of destruction. She knew 
 it had been ascribed to poisoned wells, 
 that the like had never been seen before, 
 and she became convinced that Thoth was 
 the originator of this fearful crime. 
 
 Then she wept as she thought that 
 perhaps already the whole of the races of 
 Greece had perished. This now became 
 the most urgent object of her inquiry, and 
 she tried to bring back every word, every 
 tone, every gesture of Thoth when he had 
 spoken of returning to Greece.
 
 164 THOTH. 
 
 With all the appearance of truth he had 
 promised to restore her, but at the same 
 time he had said she would not wish to 
 remain : he had spoken of allowing her 
 to choose other Grecian maidens to share 
 her fate ; but why had he not sent before 
 another expedition after the first had been 
 destroyed ? 
 
 Certainly the man appeared to have an 
 overpowering passion for her, and under 
 its influence he had seemed to speak 
 the truth : but then she feared he mio-ht 
 have coloured his narrative to please 
 her in what seemed to him the best 
 manner. 
 
 Was it likely that a being so inhuman 
 in other respects should hesitate at break- 
 ing his word, as indeed before he had 
 threatened to do ? From the past and 
 present she looked to the future, and she 
 saw at once that there was no time to
 
 THE REVOLT OF NATURE. 165 
 
 lose, and that she must decide on a plan 
 of action. But what could one ignorant 
 woman do against the mysterious intelli- 
 gence arrayed against her ? Plan after 
 plan arose, only to be rejected, and she 
 soon became aware that her only hope 
 of defeating these enemies of mankind 
 lay in Thoth's love. 
 
 Even here, however, there seemed to lie 
 an insuperable difficulty, for she knew now 
 that nothing could ever induce her to re- 
 turn his passion, and she feared that a 
 simulated affection would only hasten her 
 destruction. How could she hope to play 
 on a being gifted with such knowledge and 
 strength of purpose ? She dreaded also in 
 her secret heart that by some magical fas- 
 cination her mind would give way, and 
 that she might be led, in the weakness 
 of a moment, to sacrifice herself to him. 
 She felt still how near she had been to
 
 166 THOTH. 
 
 a complete surrender of her whole will 
 to his. 
 
 Would she have the strength to resist ? 
 
 Before Thoth returned, she had worked 
 out her scheme.
 
 167 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 GRECIAN GUILE. 
 
 On Thoth's appearance Daphne advanced 
 to meet him with all the appearance of 
 friendliness, although filled with suppressed 
 emotion. 
 
 " Thou art," she said, " the most skilled 
 of all physicians, and thou knowest well 
 that time is the best drug for the uneasy 
 mind. Forgive my weakness. The Greeks 
 of all people are the greatest lovers of their 
 native cities, and I, a Grecian maiden, can- 
 not see why they should be destroyed. 
 But I will listen to reason. Why, if I love 
 thee, should we not live here, and happily
 
 168 THOTH. 
 
 rule this city, regardless of the rest of the 
 world ? Why not leave thy dread ances- 
 tors to their sleep ? " 
 
 She spoke to him with a soft enticing 
 voice, and looked up to him as to a 
 superior. 
 
 "Daphne," replied Thoth, "I have al- 
 ready yielded to thee the utmost that my 
 nature will permit. It is useless to ask 
 more. For two thousand years my race 
 have toiled incessantly to create a new 
 world. They await their reward. If I 
 raise them from their sleep, they will 
 never consent to forego their plans. If I 
 raise them not — but I tell thee that is im- 
 possible. Rise they must, now all is ready, 
 as surely as rises the sun." 
 
 Love yielded in his eyes to fixed deter- 
 mination, and Daphne's heart sank within 
 her. 
 
 " The task I have already agreed to,"
 
 GRECIAN GUILE. 169 
 
 lie continued, " is wellnigh hopeless. They 
 will never admit women to an honourable 
 place, unless they are assured beyond doubt 
 that the choice lies between love and death. 
 I must prove that my love for thee, in 
 spite of generations of hatred towards 
 women by my fathers, is stronger than 
 ever love was, and also that their attempts 
 to crush it have crushed at the same time 
 life and reason. I will strain every fibre 
 to have thee recognised as queen — but 
 queen thou must be, first of all, of one city 
 alone in a desolate world. And, mark my 
 words, if ever this is to be accomplished, 
 thou must aid me with courage and with a 
 love equal to mine own. I must set thee 
 before these men — face to face — and thou 
 must say and do as I bid thee. If we 
 fail, there is no alternative but instant 
 death." 
 
 Daphne, still clinging to hope, replied —
 
 170 THOTH. 
 
 " I know little of thy race, and my wis- 
 dom is dense ignorance compared to thy 
 wisdom. But, tell me, canst thou not be- 
 gin with the living — with them who have 
 not yet entered on their long sleep ? Why 
 should not thy fellow-rulers, as at first was 
 thy intention, seek for equal companions ? 
 There are many maidens in Greece less 
 difficult to please than I. Persuade or 
 compel thy followers to do as thou hast 
 done, and then thou canst show thine an- 
 cestors how well the plan has succeeded 
 — after thirty years — or twenty." 
 
 "I cannot," he replied, "make such a 
 change of policy without the consent of my 
 great ancestor and his successors." 
 
 "Then," she said, "even thy union with 
 me must rest on their consent, and yet 
 thou didst speak as if thou wouldst compel 
 them to submit." 
 
 " But I said, by force of reason and
 
 GRECIAN GUILE. 171 
 
 
 will. Know, once for all, that unless 
 they approve of my conduct, I will not 
 proceed." 
 
 " And what is to be my fate, supposing 
 they do not consent ? Thou wouldst not 
 leave me to perish ? " 
 
 " I will do my utmost to save thee, 
 and I will perish with thee if I fail. But 
 fear not — all shall be well." 
 
 Daphne reflected, and every way of 
 escape from the power of the sleeping 
 tyrants seemed closed. She had hoped 
 at least to gain delay, and had even tried 
 to believe that Thoth might, through his 
 love for her, disregard altogether the past. 
 
 The future seemed more hopeless than 
 ever, and she began to feel the courage of 
 despair. If, she thought, this man were 
 slain suddenly, would not the whole power 
 of the tyrants be shattered ! 
 
 She said to him, " But if thou wert to
 
 172 THOTH. 
 
 perish with me, how would it fare with the 
 sleepers ? " 
 
 "We have never," he said, "imagined 
 that we could avoid all the accidents of 
 nature. If I were to fail, there are others 
 to take my place. In my absence in 
 Greece another was appointed vice-regent, 
 and for every conceivable emergency pro- 
 vision has been made. It is useless to dis- 
 cuss the matter further, or to delay longer. 
 This very day thou must be prepared to 
 face the assembly." 
 
 " And if we fail, whither shall we flee ? " 
 said Daphne. 
 
 " Nowhither," he replied. 
 
 "And, after all thy promises, wilt thou 
 leave me to the mercy of these haters of 
 women ? If thy love for me is real, and 
 if thou art prepared to die with me, at 
 least redeem thy promise and take me back 
 to Greece, and there we can await our
 
 GRECIAN GUILE. 173 
 
 doom. Thou dost not think," she said, 
 anxiously, " that the plague has destroyed 
 all the Greeks ? ' 
 
 " No," he replied ; "I have no doubt 
 that by this time it is spent, and that 
 many survive." 
 
 " Then," she said, " if we fail, nee with 
 me. In any case thou wilt be an outcast 
 from thy tribe. And I am very young, 
 and life is very sweet. I would fain see 
 my country and fellows again. And in 
 some remote corner of the earth we might 
 escape with a few companions from the 
 general doom, by thy wisdom." 
 
 She looked at Thoth in a beseeching 
 manner, and his heart became hot with 
 love. lie seemed lost in thought for a 
 long time, and then said — 
 
 "If we fail, I shall be, as thou sayest, 
 .111 outcast; and the little delay that thou 
 prayest for may bo granted.
 
 174 THOTH. 
 
 " Listen to my plan. 
 
 " I have discovered recently a most 
 curious and powerful substance. I can, 
 by breaking a small vessel, fill the council- 
 chamber with a vapour which shall at once 
 send into a heavy sleep all present, unless 
 they are prepared by an antidote. The 
 drug is the most powerful of all our agents 
 of destruction yet discovered. In a few 
 hours the sleep will end in irrevocable 
 death unless the remedy is applied, and 
 then the recovery is slow. For love of 
 thee, if we fail, I will use this means for 
 a little delay. We will then prepare every- 
 thing for flight, and only just before we 
 depart will I administer the remedy. 
 
 "Thus we may gain a few hours' start, 
 and in essence I shall not fail in my obe- 
 dience. But I hope for a better result, and 
 that reason will prevail, and thou wilt be- 
 come the queen of the earth, and not a
 
 GRECIAN GUILE. 175 
 
 wanderer over a desolate earth with an 
 outcast man. Rouse thy courage, and at 
 the fitting time be prepared to speak as I 
 shall bid thee. Let them see that thou 
 art worthy of the highest honour." 
 
 " What must I say ? " 
 
 "After," he replied, "I have explained 
 the reasons for restoring women to love 
 and honour, thou must say two things. 
 
 " First, thou must profess the most pro- 
 found admiration for everything in this 
 city, and, with all the excess usual in a 
 pervert, encourage them to hasten the 
 destruction of the earth." 
 
 " That is a hard task," she replied. 
 
 " Why ? " he asked. " War is the great- 
 est course of glory, and universal conquest 
 might dazzle the most ambitious. All 
 that we propose is war, on a scale and in 
 a manner hitherto not attempted." 
 
 " Thy words," she said, " throw a new
 
 176 THOTH. 
 
 light on the matter. Truly war and con- 
 quest are glorious, and the more thorough 
 the more glorious. Greeks have before 
 this warred on Greeks ; and ye are, in 
 your origin, Greek. My former disgust 
 seems to me most unreasonable. Trust 
 me, I will aid thee to the best of my 
 power." 
 
 "Next," he said, "thou must express 
 thy ardent desire to leave the real govern- 
 ment with the men, as before, and allow 
 that women are by nature inferior, and 
 that they may be loved and honoured to 
 the utmost without fear. Thou must say 
 that other Greek maidens would be more 
 submissive than thou." 
 
 " This also," she said, " seems to me 
 most reasonable. The arts and sciences 
 practised in this city seem to me wondrous 
 mysteries that no woman could ever pene- 
 trate. Women are born to admire power
 
 GRECIAN GUILE. 177 
 
 in others, not to exercise it themselves. 
 Consider how soon I have yielded my whole 
 will to thine." 
 
 Thoth was rejoiced beyond measure with 
 these words, and the wisest of men be- 
 lieved with all the simplicity of a child 
 that Daphne spoke the truth. 
 
 But in her heart she had devised a 
 cunning plan by which, unaided, she con- 
 templated the greatest deed. 
 
 M
 
 178 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 
 
 After some time Thoth returned and in- 
 formed Daphne that all was ready. He 
 clad her in her disguise, and told her to 
 keep herself covered until he ordered other- 
 wise. 
 
 They paused before the building in which 
 the council - chamber was situated, and 
 Thoth produced a small cake and divided 
 it carefully. He ate a portion himself, 
 and requested Daphne to eat also, saying 
 it was the necessary antidote in case of 
 need. 
 
 Then he said to her, "Be not afraid, for
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 179 
 
 first of all only those who are bound to 
 obey me will have ears to hear." 
 
 They entered the building by steps de- 
 scending into the earth, through a massive 
 iron gate, which Thoth carefully closed after 
 them. The clano; of the iron sounded hor- 
 ribly, and the dim light made everything 
 appear weird and sombre. 
 
 They passed through many devious pas- 
 sages, and every one, after they entered, 
 was closed by a similar massive door. 
 
 At length they reached a spacious vault. 
 In the centre was a, kind of platform, and 
 in the midst a curiously carved chair. 
 Upon this chair sat a man with closed eyes 
 and pallid face. To Daphne he seemed 
 the imao;e of Thoth. 
 
 She glanced round the immense chamber, 
 and it seemed almost filled with similar 
 stone chairs, and in each of them sat a 
 pallid motionless figure. They were ar-
 
 180 THOTH. 
 
 ranged in circles round the central throne, 
 but for a radius of a score of paces there 
 were none of the sleeping figures. In this 
 open space, however, immediately before the 
 central figure, stood about fifty men in the 
 same garments as Thoth, but not masked. 
 
 Thoth, accompanied by Daphne, advanced 
 to the front, and as they did so they were 
 saluted by a profound obeisance, in perfect 
 silence. 
 
 Thoth took up his position beside the 
 central throne, and placed Daphne on his 
 right hand. 
 
 " Are all the fitting preparations made ? 
 Have all our ancestors been brought to 
 the light and set upon their thrones ? " 
 
 A murmur of assent arose. 
 
 Then he spoke to the cloaked figures in a 
 low clear voice — 
 
 " At length the day of our triumph has 
 arrived, but in the very hour of victory a
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 181 
 
 most difficult problem has arisen. In every 
 respect save one the wisdom of our revered 
 ancestor" — and he turned to the sleeping 
 figure — " has proved faultless. But the 
 continuous degradation of the women of 
 our race has failed in both its objects. For, 
 in the first place, I have proved beyond 
 doubt that our ruling race has degenerated. 
 With the single exception of myself, we are 
 all inferior to our predecessors, and in the 
 last generation, which should take your 
 place, there is not one worthy successor. 
 
 " And, furthermore, this treatment has 
 failed to eradicate love, for," he continued, 
 drawing away from Daphne her mask and 
 disguise, " I, your vice-regent, love this 
 maiden most passionately." 
 
 A look of dismay overspread the faces of 
 his audience. They started back, as if 
 some monster, and not a most beautiful 
 woman, had been revealed t<> them. Amazed
 
 182 THOTH. 
 
 and confounded, they gazed on one another 
 like men suddenly stricken with hopeless 
 foolishness. 
 
 Thoth eyed them for a time with curious 
 contempt, and then continued — 
 
 " Degenerate ye are in very deed, but it 
 is not you whom I must consult. Eecover 
 your senses, and prepare to rouse the 
 sleepers." 
 
 Thoth then gave certain directions, and 
 his comrades dispersed. In a short time 
 they returned to their former position, and 
 Daphne observed a peculiar pungent odour, 
 gradually increasing in intensity, pervade 
 the air. 
 
 Thoth took her hand and whispered to her 
 words of encouragement. She knew that 
 the eventful moment had arrived. Like a 
 bird fascinated by a snake, she kept her 
 eyes on the pale face of the sleeping tyrant. 
 
 In a few moments his evelids began to
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 183 
 
 tremble, and a faiut flush appeared in his 
 cheeks. Then he seemed to begin to 
 breathe again. His lips parted, and slowly 
 his eyes opened. 
 
 Daphne glanced round the chamber, and 
 saw that all the sleepers had been similarly 
 affected. 
 
 In a low voice Thoth said to her — 
 
 " Fear not. They will regain speech and 
 reason long before they can move their 
 limbs." 
 
 She roused her courage, for though she 
 could not doubt that the mysterious beings 
 were living, their eyes looked dull and 
 vacant, and she hoped that nature had be- 
 come her ally. 
 
 The silence was profound, and moments 
 seemed years in duration. Surely, she 
 thought, tli is is but a momentary awaken- 
 ing (»(' the dead.
 
 184 THOTH. 
 
 Suddenly, however, she saw the eyes of 
 the ancient king gleam with intelligence, 
 and she knew that both will and reason 
 were awake. 
 
 Thoth took his place in front of the king, 
 and when he saw that his long sleep was 
 broken, he bowed to the ground, and stood 
 still, as if awaiting his commands. Daphne 
 remained at the side of the throne, still 
 unseen by the monarch, though in full sight 
 of all the others. 
 
 At last the lips of the awakened sleeper 
 began to move, and Thoth presented him 
 very gently with a curiously shaped cup. 
 He sipped at first with difficulty, but after 
 a time took a full draught. 
 
 Then his face became animated, and in a 
 moment he looked like a man in the full 
 vigour of life. Still, however, he did not 
 move, though apparently he made an effort 
 to rise. He gazed fixedly at Thoth, and
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 185 
 
 then spoke. The voice and accent of an- 
 cestor and descendant were the same. 
 
 " Thou art my present vice-regent ? " 
 
 "I am." 
 
 "I see," he said, "for the first time a 
 multitude of my race aroused from sleep. 
 Is, then, our task complete ? " 
 
 "It is complete." 
 
 A smile of majestic triumph passed over 
 the nice of the mighty ruler. 
 
 " The cars are prepared ? " 
 
 "They are perfect." 
 
 " And the arrows of death ? " 
 
 " Nothing living can escape, such is their 
 abundance and variety." 
 
 Again the king smiled with gratified ven- 
 geance. 
 
 Then he said, " A few days will suffice to 
 regain the full strength of life in our limbs 
 — already my mind is as vigorous as of 
 old. At Last, then, I become the ruler
 
 186 THOTH. 
 
 of the earth, and the races of men shall 
 for evermore be such as my will has 
 planned." 
 
 For a time he seemed lost in an ecstatic 
 vision, as if the present had faded from his 
 sight. 
 
 Then he said, " This moment is worth all 
 the toil and waiting." 
 
 He raised his voice, which every moment 
 became more vigorous, and, speaking to the 
 assembly, said — 
 
 " Eejoice, my sons, with me." 
 
 He looked at the faces of Thoth's com- 
 panions, and suddenly his face darkened. 
 
 " Why look ye so amazed, weaklings ? 
 Feeble and childish ye seem compared 
 with your fathers." He turned to Thoth. 
 "Thou seemest indeed my son. Surely it 
 is not possible that my strict commands as 
 to life and death have not been obeyed? 
 Speak," he hissed — " are these the best of
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 187 
 
 thy generation ? " for they trembled and 
 looked foolish. 
 
 Then Thoth knew that the moment of 
 trial had come, and he said with courage 
 and simplicity, and speaking as if to an 
 equal — 
 
 " These, oh king, are the best of thy 
 race of my generation, and all are born of 
 unions such as thou didst ordain. Know, 
 also, that their children arc still more weak 
 and feeble, and that thy royal race appears 
 to be threatened with destruction." 
 
 The monarch grew pale with anger, and 
 said — 
 
 " My rules have not been followed. Some 
 traitor has been a victim to the guile of 
 woman." 
 
 Then Thoth replied, " Hear me, oh king, 
 with attention, and know that in one thing 
 thy policy has utterly failed. The rest of 
 thy people have become, from age to age,
 
 188 THOTH. 
 
 more vigorous and skilful, because their 
 women have been treated with affection 
 and honour. But thy royal race has 
 dwindled. I am the son of a stranger 
 woman, though my father was deceived 
 and knew it not. That miserable being 
 trembling there is thy true successor, 
 according to thy laws of descent. Know 
 that the degradation of women has failed, 
 and thou must choose between love and 
 death. My counsel is, that ye who have 
 returned to life take for wives the best 
 maidens of the ancient cities of Greece, and 
 make honour to women the foundation of 
 our new world." 
 
 Then he took Daphne by the hand, and 
 placing her before the king, said — 
 
 " This is the maiden whom I myself have 
 chosen, and, in spite of generations of op- 
 pression, I love her as passionately as thou 
 didst once love the mother of our race."
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 189 
 
 The monarch shook with ansfer and 
 loathing, and in vain struggled to rise. 
 "Traitor!" he cried, "darest thou thus to 
 speak to me ? Strike this woman dead on 
 the instant." 
 
 But Thoth stood motionless, and said, 
 "Thy whole power has grown out of wis- 
 dom — listen for a moment to reason." 
 
 " Dost thou speak of reason to me, son of 
 an outcast ? Ah, that my strength had re- 
 turned, that I might kill thee with my own 
 hand." 
 
 " Kevered king," said Thoth, " I only 
 ask for delay. Thou shalt examine the 
 case thyself. Without thy consent I will 
 do nothing. I have been faithful to all 
 thy commands. The arrows of death and 
 the aerial cars are at thy disposal. Had 1 
 been a traitor and a victim to the guile of 
 love, thy sleep would have passed into 
 death."
 
 190 THOTH. 
 
 " Hold thy peace ! " cried the monarch. 
 "In a short time I and my true sons will 
 be as strong as thou, and then thy doom 
 will be swift and terrible." 
 
 A hoarse murmur of approval arose from 
 the parched throats of the motionless 
 figures. 
 
 Then the king spoke to his latest de- 
 scendants — 
 
 " Are ye all traitors, weaklings ? Seize 
 them both, and tear them limb from limb. 
 Ha ! I feel my strength," and he half rose 
 from his seat. 
 
 Urged by him, they began to advance, 
 but Thoth eyed them with scorn, and, 
 accustomed to obedience from their child- 
 hood, they paused. 
 
 The monarch hissed with rage, and cried, 
 " Advance ! seize them ! " 
 
 Again Thoth said, " Revered king, listen 
 to the voice of reason." He was answered
 
 THE ASSEMBLY OF ANCESTORS. 191 
 
 by a louder cry than before, as the multi- 
 tude of those who had slept rose at last 
 from their seats, and painfully and slowly 
 began to advance. The king himself in a 
 moment seemed to recover, and tried to 
 seize Tlioth. But Thoth easily eluded his 
 feeble grasp, and saying — 
 
 " Once more, wilt thou hear reason ? for 
 I, as well as thou, have will and wisdom. 
 One step more, and I plunge all of you 
 once more in sleep." 
 
 " Thou darest not — thou canst not," cried 
 the king ; and, inspirited by his example, 
 all advanced against Thoth and Daphne. 
 
 "Thus," said Thoth, "I dare and thus 
 I do ! " — and he dashed to the ground a 
 vessel that at once broke in a thousand 
 fragments. 
 
 In an instant every one except Thoth 
 and Daphne fell to the earth, speechless, 
 senseless, motionless.
 
 192 THOTH. 
 
 Thoth seized Daphne by the hand. "All 
 is over. Come." 
 
 They passed again through the corridors, 
 and the doors clanged behind them. At 
 last they reached the open air and sun- 
 light.
 
 19 
 
 n 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE VICTORY OF LOVE. 
 
 They passed in silence into the palace in 
 which Daphne had lived since she came to 
 the mysterious city. 
 
 The pigmies hailed their arrival with 
 their usual satisfaction, but Thoth dis- 
 missed them for the first time sternly. 
 They entered the garden, in which the 
 means for their night had been placed. 
 
 " We have no time to lose," he said. 
 " Very soon I must return and restore my 
 kinsmen. Before nightfall the great king 
 will be in full command of the resources of 
 the city." 
 
 N
 
 194 THOTH. 
 
 " And then ? ' : Daphne asked. 
 
 " And then," he replied, " his vengeance 
 will begin." 
 
 " Dost thou not think he will be con- 
 vinced as thou wert ? " 
 
 " I have made an irreparable error," said 
 Thoth. " My ancestor is swayed by all the 
 natural passions of man. He has slept 
 unaffected by time. His first thought will 
 be to give us over to the most cruel de- 
 struction. If thou still desirest to live a 
 little longer, we must flee at once." 
 
 " I regret," she said, " the failure of thy 
 plans." 
 
 He looked at her passionately, and said, 
 "Thou canst never now be queen of the 
 world, but a little love is sufficient recom- 
 pense for me." 
 
 " Dost thou love me so much ? " she said. 
 
 " Above everything," he replied. 
 
 Then she went close to him, and twined
 
 THE VICTORY OF LOVE. 195 
 
 her arms about him, and kissed his eyes 
 and lips, and said — 
 
 "Dearest heart, thou art greater and 
 more godlike than all thy dread ances- 
 tors. Why wilt thou sacrifice thyself and 
 me to them ? Why should they ever 
 awake ? " 
 
 Thoth started hack from her, and said, 
 " It cannot be. I cannot destroy at one 
 blow the men I have worshipped — and the 
 generations of my race, and their work of 
 hundreds of years. Far easier is it for me 
 to perish alone." 
 
 "Thou dost not love me," said Daphne, 
 '•'or thou wouldst prove thyself greater 
 than this ancient tyrant. He is unworthy 
 of thee." 
 
 Thoth only replied, " I cannot do this 
 tiling." 
 
 "Then," said Daphne, "choose between 
 me and them. Unless they perish, my
 
 196 THOTH. 
 
 love for thee shall be changed to hate and 
 loathing. Choose ! " 
 
 He looked at her face, and felt his will 
 quail before hers. 
 
 " What wouldst thou have ? " he said. 
 " I alone cannot carry out the scheme of 
 destruction, and without it thou canst 
 not become queen of the earth." 
 
 " I would rather," she replied, " tend 
 sheep with thee on a lonely islet of Greece, 
 than be the shadowy queen of a desolate 
 world. Choose between my living love 
 and this impious deed, which I am certain 
 can never be accomplished. Thou hast 
 failed already, — thou hast made serious 
 errors ; chance and nature have baffled thee 
 in the most unexpected manner. Awake ! 
 arise ! and leave this city and all its horrors, 
 as thou wouldst throw off a horrible dream. 
 Come with me ! Treasures thou hast be- 
 yond estimation, and wisdom and courage.
 
 THE VICTORY OF LOVE. 197 
 
 Thou slialt become a leader of living- 
 Greeks, and in a few short years the last 
 remnant of these dreadful scenes shall fade 
 away." 
 
 Again she approached him and kissed 
 him. 
 
 " See," she said, " I will not let thee go. 
 The crime is not thine but mine." 
 
 He said, "Leave me, — it cannot be. I 
 will break their trance, and then we will 
 flee away, as before thou didst agree. Time 
 presses. Thou seest this shadow slowly 
 creeping along. Before it reaches the spot 
 on which we stand it will be too late." 
 
 He pointed to the shadow of a huge 
 column, covered with curious signs and 
 symbols. 
 
 Daphne clung to him and whispered, 
 " Let it be to them who hate me and thee 
 t he shadow of death ! " 
 
 She looked into his eyes with eager pas-
 
 198 THOTH. 
 
 sion, and saw signs of yielding. She re- 
 doubled her caresses, and whispered wild 
 words of love. 
 
 ■ *•••••• 
 
 The shadow came nearer and nearer. 
 
 She covered his eyes with her hands, and 
 showered hot kisses on his face. 
 
 The shadow was close to them. 
 
 " This," she said, " is love such as the 
 world has never seen. Let me lose myself 
 in thee." 
 
 The shadow had passed, and then in her 
 anxiety Daphne became cold and still. 
 
 Thoth roused himself and looked. Then 
 he uttered a great cry — "Too late; all is 
 over ! 
 
 " Art thou certain ? " 
 
 " Every one by this time is dead beyond 
 recall. Thus ends the greatest scheme ever 
 planned by man."
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE RETURN TO ATHENS. 
 
 Although Thotli assured Daphne in the 
 most explicit manner that the whole as- 
 sembly of the royal race must have per- 
 ished, she insisted upon instant flight. 
 
 The danger had been so great and the 
 culminating events so appalling, that she 
 desired above everything to be hundreds of 
 leagues from the scene. 
 
 Thoth became silent and gloomy, and 
 most reluctantly agreed to obey her re- 
 quests. Daphne attempted to soothe him, 
 and to make his deed appear great and 
 noble, but without effect.
 
 200 THOTH. 
 
 " Surely thou dost not repent ? " she 
 said. 
 
 He replied as if lie had not heard her 
 question — 
 
 " Canst thou not remain with me a few 
 months in this city until I arrange some 
 kind of order? There are none left now 
 but the people thou hast seen, as harmless 
 as sheep, and, without a ruler, as helpless. 
 My brothers were weaker than I, but every 
 one played some necessary part. If I leave 
 the city without a guiding mind, a disaster 
 is possible. Why art thou in such haste to 
 be gone ? Thine enemies are irrevocably 
 dead." 
 
 " I fear even the dead," she answered. 
 " I cannot stay in this place." 
 
 " Not even with me — in the first glow of 
 our love ? " 
 
 " Restore me to Greece," she said, " and 
 then, if thou wilt, return hither and put
 
 THE RETURN TO ATHENS. 201 
 
 in order the affairs of tliy giants and 
 pigmies." 
 
 " And this," he said bitterly, " is thy 
 love, when for thee I have sacrificed every- 
 thing." 
 
 " Restore me to Greece," she said ; "I 
 can stay no longer in this dreadful place." 
 
 He yielded, and in silence conducted 
 her to the ear. Then lie said to her with 
 gentle, affectionate persuasion — 
 
 " Drink again of the nepenthe, and thou 
 shalt awake in Athens." 
 
 She hesitated, as if with distrust, and lie 
 said with atone of reproach — 
 
 " Nay, if I intended harm to thee, there 
 are still a thousand ways in which I could 
 show my power." 
 
 She drank as he bade her, and again felt 
 the strauge soothing effect of the drug. 
 
 She w;is awakened by the words of Thoth.
 
 202 THOTH. 
 
 " Thou art at the rocks from which we 
 departed, and the dawn is near at hand. 
 Here is abundance of gold and jewels. 
 Meet me at daybreak in the same place 
 in ten days." 
 
 He kissed her hand and said — 
 
 " I return to my people to set the city 
 in order." 
 
 And without further farewell he entered 
 the car and disappeared. 
 
 • •••• • • • 
 
 Some peasants found Daphne and took 
 her into the city. 
 
 The plague had vanished, and she found 
 that many friends and companions had sur- 
 vived. When questioned as to her journey, 
 she said simply that the vessel had been 
 wrecked, and that she alone had been 
 saved, and after much toil and suffering 
 she had been restored to Athens by a man 
 of Grecian birth, who wished to take her to
 
 THE RETURN TO ATHENS. 203 
 
 wife. She showed the treasures in token 
 of the truth of her words. 
 
 • •>••••• 
 
 Every day, as the old familiar life was 
 renewed, the recollection of Thotli and his 
 city became more odious to her. 
 
 On all sides she saw vestiges of the 
 plague, and she could not efface from her 
 mind the thought that he and his com- 
 panions had first implanted it in Greece. 
 How could she love a man who had done 
 such a deed ? 
 
 She began to dread his return. She 
 knew not what to do. She feared if she 
 let him depart from her in anger that he 
 might renew the work of destruction. 
 
 She feared to disclose the secret to the 
 people and those in authority. She doubted 
 if, against his will, they could overpower 
 him, — and in her heart she wished him no 
 harm — least of all, death by her devices.
 
 204 THOTH. 
 
 She could not forget the fate from which 
 he had rescued her, and the sacrifice which 
 he had made. 
 
 The appointed day arrived, and still her 
 mind was divided by doubt. 
 
 Before daybreak she was at the meeting- 
 place — alone. The scene of her former de- 
 parture rose before her, and she wondered 
 if again she could trust herself with this 
 man. 
 
 The first light of day appeared, and she 
 saw no one. The light became stronger 
 and larger, and she saw, as it were, a large 
 bird in the distance, advancing rapidly 
 towards her over the sea. She knew that 
 Thoth would soon be beside her. 
 
 Nearer and nearer he came, and she pic- 
 tured to herself his face aflame with eager- 
 ness and love.
 
 THE RETUEN TO ATHENS. 205 
 
 Suddenly, about fifty paces from the 
 shore, without warning, the car fell, like 
 a wounded bird, into the sea. Daphne 
 waited in breathless expectation, and in a 
 few moments Thoth rose to the surface, 
 and, swimming with great difficulty, made 
 his way to the shore. 
 
 She ran down to meet him, and when he 
 reached the land, she observed that he was 
 pallid with suffering. 
 
 The water at the place was deep, and the 
 rocks rough and cruel. She bent down and 
 assisted him to land, and as he felt her 
 touch, a look of pleasure crossed his suffer- 
 ing face. 
 
 " Art thou hurt ? " she said. 
 
 " My bodily hurt," he said, " is nothing, 
 but 1 fear to tell thee the whole of my evil 
 fortune. My city, with all its people and 
 wealth and power, is buried in the sands 
 of the desert — not a trace is left. There,
 
 206 THOTH. 
 
 in the depth of the sea, lies the last rem- 
 nant of our skill. I stand before thee a 
 nameless, powerless man. Yet if thou wilt 
 only love me, I regret nothing," and he 
 looked with longing into her eyes. 
 
 " Tell me but one thing," she said ; " as- 
 sure me that thou thyself didst not bring 
 hither the pestilence that destroyed my 
 race." 
 
 His face darkened, and he said — 
 ' That is long since past, and I have 
 become a different being." 
 
 She shrank back, and said — 
 
 "At least, say that it was thy com- 
 panions — that thine own hands are guilt- 
 less." 
 
 " Surely thou didst know before that I 
 alone did it," he said. 
 
 Horror seized her, and she cried — 
 
 " How can I forget ? How can I dwell 
 with thee or love thee ? "
 
 THE RETURN TO ATHENS. ^U7 
 
 But he said with passionate entreaty — 
 " Now I am altogether different. Since 
 I knew thee, it is as if I had been born 
 
 ajrain." 
 
 But she looked at him with dismay and 
 undisguised terror. 
 
 " Alas ! these are empty words, and the 
 dreadful deed cannot be undone. How can 
 a man be born ao-ain ? " 
 
 Thoth looked at her, and for a moment 
 seemed to wait for some sign of relenting, 
 and then he said, hopelessly — 
 
 " Then there is but one course left." 
 
 He seized her hand passionately, and she 
 tried to escape. 
 
 " Nay," he said, " fear no violence. I 
 have always treated thee with honour and 
 respect." 
 
 She left her hand quietly in his, and lie 
 raised it to his lips and kissed it. 
 
 "Farewell," he said; "but hereafter,
 
 208 THOTH. 
 
 when thou thinkest of me, remember that 
 my last words were true, and that the 
 man who loved thee was not the man who 
 did this wrong." 
 
 Then he turned, and, without a word, 
 plunged into the sea. 
 
 In a moment bitter repentance seized on 
 Daphne's mind. Her memory was filled 
 with recollections of the kindness of the 
 man. 
 
 " Come back ! come back ! " she cried. 
 "I believe thee! I love thee ! ' : 
 
 But there was no answer, save the lap- 
 ping of the waves on the shore.
 
 EPILOGUE. 209 
 
 EPILOGUE. 
 
 I, Xenophilos, physician and philosopher, 
 having wandered forth to meditate by the 
 sea, found Daphne in a swoon. For many 
 years she lived affected by what appeared to 
 be a curious madness, but before her death 
 she seemed to recover somewhat, and out of 
 her narrative I have, with difficulty, pieced 
 together this history. 
 
 I will only add that the body of a man, 
 like one of the Egyptian merchants, was 
 afterwards washed ashore. Near the spot, 
 and many years after, some divers found 
 the remains of a curious, unintelligible me- 
 chanical contrivance, partly destroyed by 
 the sea. 
 
 o
 
 APPENDIX
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 {The last chapter of ' Thoth ' as originally written in 1876. 
 See Preface.) 
 
 Philetos lay dreaming — dreaming that he was 
 still hunting the lion. And it seemed to him 
 that after slaying numbers of inferior animals, he 
 lighted on one of an immense size, which, as soon 
 as he came into view, tied to the mountains. He 
 chased it through mighty forests, followed it across 
 foaming torrents, and at last on a lofty barren 
 table-land, he appeared to be fast approaching it. 
 But the lion, roaring terribly, suddenly rushed 
 away, and in the distance he could see it like 
 an insect on the grass. Bravely and persistently 
 he followed, however, and at last saw that the 
 lion was standing on the edge of a precipice, or 
 rather precipitous incline, at the base of which 
 was ;i deep black lake; and ii seemed in be in 
 doubt whether t'» turn and try and rend its pur-
 
 214 THOTH. 
 
 suer, or to yield to fear and rush blindly over the 
 abyss. On Philetos rushed, with spear ready to 
 his hand, and he was now within a few yards of 
 the beast, when suddenly it sprang down the 
 mountain-side, as if panic-struck. In its course 
 it loosened immense rocks, which formed an 
 avalanche, following close on its track. Philetos, 
 with straining eyes and ears expecting the shock 
 of the rocks falling on the water, stood at the 
 edge of the abyss. At length the lion fell into 
 the lake, and in a moment the terrific splash of 
 the avalanche was heard. Then Philetos awoke, 
 and springing up from his couch, stood up, with 
 the noise still roaring in his ears. But on awak- 
 ening he had entirely forgotten the lion, and he 
 thought that he had surely heard the fall of im- 
 mense rocks into water. He looked on the sun- 
 light that streamed through his chamber windows, 
 and tried to shake off his terror ; for he thought 
 that the Egyptian had broken faith, and that the 
 end of humanity was near at hand. Breathlessly 
 he waited to hear if a second noise would follow ; 
 for he knew that now, at least, he was fully awake, 
 and that if he should again hear what he had 
 heard, or dreamed he had heard, his fears would 
 be realised. Nothing seemed to break the silence 
 but the sighing of a gentle wind in the sombre
 
 APPENDIX. 215 
 
 trees, and the cries of animals in the distant 
 forests ; yet still he stood breathless, and scarcely 
 able to stand with excitement. Never in his life 
 before had he been thus moved : in a multitude 
 of perils by land and sea, his cheek had not 
 blanched ; without fear he had fought alone with 
 beasts in the midst of the forest, with only the 
 moonlight to direct his blows ; without fear he 
 had found himself in the pathless desert deprived 
 of food or water; and without fear he had at- 
 tended to the wants of men struck with the 
 plague. Never before had he feared for his life ; 
 but now he thought that all his fellows — men who, 
 even at first sight, had loved him, and showered 
 on him gifts and favours ; whom he had loved as 
 much in return ; amongst whom he had no ene- 
 mies, save the Egyptian priest; and by whom he 
 had been worshipped almost as a god, save by him, 
 — he thought that humanity was now to feel t lie 
 revenge of that terrible intellect, and man, woman, 
 and child in a few hours or days to lie* writhing 
 in mortal anguish, or withering under the breath 
 of the plague. And this it was that filled him 
 with terror. Not now did he seem like Apollo, 
 clothed with immortal strength and beauty, but 
 rather like Niobe, expecting her offspring to be 
 struck down by the darts of the far-shooter.
 
 216 THOTH. 
 
 Suddenly the noise which he had heard in his 
 dreams was repeated ; now there could be no 
 doubt. He heard distinctly the masses of stone 
 striking the waters, and the rush of the waters 
 over them. He knew for a certainty that the 
 barrier of the temple, which was to fall and give 
 access to the light of the sun only on the day 
 when mankind was doomed to be exterminated, 
 had fallen. What his dream had pictured as the 
 plunge of the lion, had been the fall of the outer 
 barrier ; and now he had heard the innermost 
 wall — the dreadful veil, the fall of which was to 
 reveal the most terrible spectacle ever enacted 
 on this earth — fall irrevocably into the poisonous 
 lake. In a moment, he thought, the awful cer- 
 emony will commence : even now the dead are 
 raised and eagerly expecting the consummation 
 of their hatred ; the music is breathing out the 
 solemn, gentle strains, that will soon swell into 
 maddening peals, and rouse the fury of the haters 
 of men from its slumber of ten thousand years. 
 It is no longer a thought : he can hear the weird 
 sounds, which welcome the dead to life, and form 
 a fitting prelude to the awful catastrophe. What 
 can he do ? Even now, though the Egyptian 
 should have his hand on the key of the gates of 
 death, Philetos imagines that could he see him
 
 APPENDIX. 217 
 
 face to face, he would forego his revenge, and 
 dare to disobey and dishonour his ancestors. He 
 is certain that this is the work of the priest, and 
 still believes the Egyptian to be his friend. There 
 is one chance still : if he can gain access to the 
 temple he will plead the cause of men, and per- 
 chance save them. He rushes from his chamber, 
 and nothing hinders his advance down the dreary 
 corridor that leads to the temple gate. Fleeter 
 than the deer he passes along ; the roof re-echoes 
 the tread of his feet, and the hollow clang seems 
 like the shriek of despair ; the fitful light of the 
 few flickering lamps is pallid and ghastly, and 
 seems to fall with the greatest intensity on the 
 bas-reliefs, which he knows represent the final 
 sufferings of man. The thick humid air seems 
 to fan him like a wind, so fleetly does he run. 
 In so brief a space lias he accomplished the 
 entire length, that hardly could the priest have 
 turned to bar the gate of the temple, even if he 
 had been aware of the object of Philctos. But 
 so engrossed were both he and the Egyptian, thai 
 they heard not the advancing steps, and he passed 
 the door, and was already advancing along the 
 central aisle, before ho was perceived. < >n open- 
 ing the massive gate, a spectacle so terrible met 
 his gaze, that nothing but the Lofty purpose with
 
 218 THOTH. 
 
 which he was animated could give him strength 
 and courage to pass through the temple. 
 
 Only once before had he passed through the 
 massive entrance, and then a single lamp, car- 
 ried in the hand, had afforded him glimpses 
 only of the architecture of the place, where the 
 Egyptians, wrapt in their everlasting robes, were 
 waiting for the time when it should be permitted 
 them to link together again the broken chain of 
 life, and end their existence with a moment of 
 delirious joy — of joy so intense as to compensate 
 for all their life-long toil, and a voluntary en- 
 tombment of a thousand years. Even then, when 
 a thousandth part was not revealed to him, what 
 he had seen had caused him to tremble. The pil- 
 lars by which the roof was supported seemed of 
 adamantine strength ; but this was relieved by no 
 graceful capital, nor was the surface smooth and 
 polished. On the contrary, deeply engraven on 
 the stone were unintelligible signs, and exact 
 images of the loathliest animals and most nox- 
 ious plants. 
 
 There were sculptured groups in abundance ; 
 but hate and destruction in their most horrible 
 garbs formed the only theme. Here was a ser- 
 pent enveloping a deer in its scaly folds; the 
 deer had been designed with the most graceful
 
 APPENDIX. 219 
 
 form, but the marble of which it was carved 
 seemed shivering with horror. There, again, 
 was a man of unshapely form, but evidently of 
 immense strength, with a brow that denoted the 
 highest intelligence, and features that expressed 
 the intensest cruelty, strangling a being of the 
 most perfect stature and beauty. There were 
 pictures, too, and in one of these, at first glance, 
 he had missed the prevailing emotion. A number 
 of maidens were bathing, as careless, unconscious, 
 and graceful as water-lilies hardly moved by 
 the breeze ; but when he looked again he saw 
 beneath the water a monster that seemed half 
 alligator, half serpent, and yet altogether human. 
 
 These glimpses had filled him with horror on 
 his first visit, but now the light of an African 
 sun fully revealed the minutest details. The 
 pillars with their engraven loathliness, the paint- 
 ings and sculptures almost innumerable, seemcil 
 as if they had been suddenly endowed with life 
 by the heat and glare of the sun. But they 
 formed only an appropriate setting to the rest 
 of the picture. 
 
 The robes which had hitherto completely 
 covered the bodir. of tin' Egyptians, had now 
 fallen to their feet, and they were standing in the 
 garb of life. Nol even a face-cloth obscured
 
 220 THOTH. 
 
 their visages. They seemed as if they had just 
 been struck dead in the performance of some re- 
 ligious ceremony ; but, in reality, the reverse had 
 taken place. A closer examination would have 
 shown that they were just aroused from their 
 sleep, for their eyes were open ; and though they 
 moved neither hand nor foot, nor seemed to draw 
 breath, the look of the eyes seemed not altogether 
 as of the dead. There they stood in close array, 
 all in the same attitude, steadfastly gazing at the 
 upper part of the temple — seeming only to wait 
 for some signal to open their mouths and speak, 
 and rush tumultuously towards the day — where, 
 arrayed in gorgeous robes, stood the friend of 
 Philetos, bearing in his hand two keys — the keys l 
 of life and death ; they seemed as if gazing on the 
 sky, in expectation of the signal of life, on which 
 they would open their mouth and speak, and rush 
 tumultuously forward. But as men looking to 
 the gods for aught receive what they desire, or 
 in some sort what they desire, at the hands of 
 men, so the entry of Philetos seemed to loosen 
 their frozen bodies as the expected signal from 
 
 1 The mystery of these keys had been explained in an earlier 
 chapter. The plagues were supposed to be locked up like the 
 winds in the cave of iEolus, aud by turning the key of death 
 they would be blown about the world, whilst by turning the 
 key of life they would be rendered harmless.
 
 APPENDIX. 221 
 
 heaven. Yet they moved not, for the newly 
 given life was snatched away by a dreadful appre- 
 hension. But as he passed through their midst, 
 a thousand eyes darted on him looks of fear, 
 hatred, and surprise. In a moment, too, voices 
 faint and low, as voices in a deep cave hardly 
 heard by the persons above, assailed him on all 
 sides; fierce and vehement words reached him, 
 but they seemed as large stones hurled from too 
 great a distance, which gently roll up to the feet 
 of him they were intended to crush. He heeded 
 them not, even heard them not distinctly, but with 
 rapid steps advanced to his friend. 
 
 The priest, who at first bad seemed thunder- 
 struck, and too much astonished to say or do 
 aught, now poising his javelin, hurled it at 
 Philetos with a fierce curse. But wrath or fear 
 misdirected the aim, and the javelin struck the 
 sculpture of the wrestlers, and broke off the 
 band of the ideal of intellect and cruelty. The 
 Egyptian himself seemed a prey to the most 
 violent agitation ; at one time he looked to his 
 ancestors, and at another to Philetos, seeming in 
 doubt which to obey. Yet be drew not his sword, 
 nor made any effort to kill bis friend, as in 
 similar circumstances he bad done before. On 
 his visage, usually, even in the most perilous and
 
 222 THOTH. 
 
 exciting circumstances, as cold and immovable as 
 marble, was depicted a most terrible struggle of 
 emotion. On the one hand, the friendship for 
 which he had already sacrificed so much, and 
 which year by year had been growing in in- 
 tensity, urged him in one direction ; but on the 
 other, the purpose of his life, and the lives of his 
 ancestors — the tremendous weight that accrued 
 to this purpose by the already accomplished re- 
 surrection, the vividness with which he saw his 
 hereditary object before him, and in addition his 
 sombre religion, which had never ceased to have 
 the greatest sway over him — urged him to kill 
 Philetos. At length, as men driven this way and 
 that by doubts at last appeal to chance, and then 
 become firm in one resolution by the upshot of a 
 most trivial event, so the Egyptian, when he saw 
 the priest raise his javelin, did not attempt to 
 hinder him, but seemed to decide to act according 
 to the javelin ;— if it struck Philetos ever so 
 slightly, to slay him at once — and if it failed, to 
 renounce his ancestors. Accordingly, when not 
 only did it not strike Philetos, but ominously 
 released the fair statue from the grasp of its 
 destroyer, he grasped Philetos by the hand, but 
 remained silent through emotion. But the priest, 
 whom this act seemed to render furious, thinking
 
 APPENDIX. 223 
 
 that the fate of the world and his revered masters 
 depended on him alone, drew his sword and rushed 
 at Philetos. But he, for the first time in his life 
 enraged with a fellow-man, avoiding the blow, 
 caught the priest and hurled him into the lake. 
 Still the Egyptian spoke not, nor raised a hand 
 against him. Then arose a faint cry, yet a cry 
 which seemed in its purpose naturally strong 
 enough to have shaken the temple t<> the ground, 
 from the multitude who filled the temple. Yet 
 they moved not, but with all their efforts could 
 only look their hatred, and mutter faintly. Then 
 followed a deep silence, for Philetos, after slaying 
 the priest, seemed struck with deep sorrow, for 
 never before had he slain a man. At length the 
 father of all these haters of men, in a tremulous 
 voice, thus spoke, and as he spoke, not one of his 
 descendants, nor Philetos, moved ever so slight- 
 ly, but in the deepest silence all gave heed to 
 him : — 
 
 " Verily thou art born in my image, and 1 
 should think thee my own son, but that a multi- 
 tudinous murmuring, which only hundreds of my 
 descendants could have uttered, has cursed thee, 
 as I curse thee now. Think not that I, who have 
 waited for my vengeance these thousands of years, 
 will now stoop to entreat thee, puny weakling, to
 
 224 THOTH. 
 
 do what do thou must ; for I command thee on the 
 instant to slay this man, and unlock the gates of 
 death. Thinkest thou because I am feeble and 
 but half aroused from this deathly sleep, that 
 therefore thou canst with impunity mock me thus ? 
 Nay, rather, but that Will which has kept me 
 fixed in my resolve, and has made these hundreds 
 keep most strictly all my laws, that Will, though 
 now it be manifested by a feeble voice, cannot 
 fail to force thy sickly nature as it listeth. By 
 the wrongs I suffered from the foolish race of 
 men, who would none of my counsel, though to 
 every tribe I offered life and peace ; by the blood 
 which flows in thy veins, by the mighty ties of 
 nature, by the oath I and these have sworn, I 
 charge thee to do my bidding ; tarry an instant 
 and I curse thee with the fatal curse. Darest 
 thou look on me, and these thy forefathers, and 
 still let doubt divide thy mind ? I charge thee, 
 pour out on the world the measure of my hate ; 
 unlock these fatal gates, and, unworthy as thou 
 art, look no longer on us, but cast thyself head- 
 long, having fulfilled thine oath. My voice 
 already fails — slay — slay — slay ! " 
 
 Thus ended the father of the haters of men, 
 and the Egyptian drawing his sword, struck 
 fiercely at Philetos ; but less violent was the
 
 APPENDIX. 2 2 5 
 
 stroke than that with which the grass, bent by a 
 gentle wind, smites the earth. He muttered — 
 
 " I cannot ; thrice before have I thus purposed, 
 and thrice have I failed." 
 
 Then arose a shriek of horror from those dying 
 men, and the father of them all, with a low, feeble, 
 passionate voice, broke forth — 
 
 " By the stars of heaven, by the caves of the 
 sea, by mighty nature, mother of all things, who 
 once articulately promised me this power over 
 one man, I consign thee to unfathomable misery 
 for a thousand thousand years. On the instant 
 thou shalt die, and thy spirit herd with the 
 loathliest animals. In murky darkness and 
 loathsome air, now sinking in mire, with reptiles 
 I'D' thy pillow, now in burning sands alive with 
 fiery serpents, thou shalt pass a miserable after- 
 life ; more horrors than ever I could devise shall 
 be thy portion. It is spoken ! I curse thee with 
 the fated curse ! " 
 
 And from the lips of those dying men arose 
 the cry of "We curse thee!" 
 
 They spoke no more, but with tottering steps 
 advanced towards the two who were still in the 
 Hush of life. Then murmured the Egyptian — 
 
 - Philetos, thou seest what I have done for 
 thee; and now I cannot have my reward in 
 
 P
 
 226 THOTH. 
 
 simply clasping thy hand, for then thou must 
 share my fate." 
 
 But Philetos, turning his back on the advanc- 
 ing hosts, clasped his friend by the hand, and in 
 a ringing voice said — 
 
 " Shake off thy terror ; look out on the plains 
 beneath ; seest thou not the sun smiling on the 
 forests? — hearest thou not the cries of the wild 
 animals ? Let us away and hunt, and forget this 
 horror ; see, all nature smiles, and mocks at the 
 curse." 
 
 But that other answered in a melancholy 
 voice — 
 
 " Compared with mine, thy sight is dim, and 
 thine ears are dull ; but seest thou not that black 
 cloud arising? — hearest thou not the gathering- 
 storm ? " 
 
 But Philetos answered — "Truly there is a 
 cloud, but we shall hunt the more pleasantly; 
 and what is rain in its season ? " 
 
 " Speak no more," answered his friend ; " but 
 if thou canst not read the meaning of the storm, 
 look over the abyss and tell me what thou seest 
 in the poisonous lake." 
 
 Philetos darted to the edge of the abyss and 
 recoiled in horror. 
 
 " I see," he said, " a huge monster with gaping
 
 APPENDIX. 227 
 
 jaws, rearing his snaky folds out from the mire ; 
 and its eyes are like the eyes of men that hate, 
 and it hisses death and misery. Let us flee — let 
 us flee ! " 
 
 " Alas ! " replied the Egyptian, " thou hast 
 clasped my hand, and thou too must die, and 
 suffer torment with me ; say thou dost not hate 
 me — say thou wilt not curse me when we two 
 shall be deep in horror." 
 
 Philetos looked once more on the monster, 
 which had now reared its slimy head above the 
 precipice, and he read his doom in its vengeful 
 eyes. But he quailed not, but pressing the hand 
 of his friend, cried — 
 
 " Fear not thou ! What if we must be in tor- 
 ment for a thousand thousand years, shall we 
 not ever after receive homage from thousands 
 of men whom we have saved from death ? — will 
 not the shades after these few years pay us 
 homage ? — and shall we not again and for ever 
 hunt together and live life in life ? " 
 
 Then murmured the Egyptian — " If I am ever 
 with thee, even such misery were bliss; yet let 
 us not die by this loathsome monster." 
 
 So saying, he clasped Philetos, and turned the 
 key of the gate of life! Then with a shout ol 
 triumph they hurled themselves into the abyss,
 
 228 THOTH. 
 
 and were lost in the depth of the poisonous 
 lake. 
 
 Then arose a mighty storm, and the day was 
 changed to night, and the temple rocked to its 
 foundations. The haters of men fell to the earth, 
 and with deep curses gasped out their breath. 
 And the storm increased, and the earth trembled, 
 till, with a shriek of despair, all the structure was 
 buried beneath the waters. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BV WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
 
 IN ONE VOLUME. THE LIBRARY EDITION OF 
 
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