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Updated: June 4, 2025
It lay upon the breast of Heliodore, Heliodore who was such a one as he wished that I might wed. Well, certainly I wished it too; but, alas! how could I wed, who was in Irene's power, a toy for her to play with or to break? And how would it fare with any woman whom it was known that I wished to wed?
What happened in the tomb after Heliodore had ended her tale; whether we departed thence together or left her there a while; how we escaped from Kurna, and by what good fortune or artifice we came safely to Alexandria, I know not. As to all these matters my vision fails me utterly. So far as I am concerned, they are buried beneath the dust of time.
"Heliodore," I answered, "I must tell now what I have hidden from you. The Augusta has been pleased why, I cannot say, but chiefly, I suppose, because of late years it has been my fancy to keep myself apart from women, which is rare in this land to show me certain favour. I gather, even, that, whether she means it or means it not, she has thought of me as a husband."
On my back was my beggar's harp. I unslung it and swept its chords, and wild and sad they sounded in that solemn place. Then I began to sing an old song that twice or thrice I had sung with Heliodore in Byzantium. This song told of a lover seeking his mistress. It was for two voices, since in the song the mistress answered verse for verse.
At the appointed times I remitted the tribute due, yes, and added to the sum, and received back the official acknowledgment signed by the Empress, and with it the official thanks. But with these never came either letter or message. Yet it is evident she knew that I was married, for to Heliodore did come a message, and with it a gift.
In some few days I had hoped to reach Lesbos, and there be wed to Heliodore. And now! And now! "Cut the ropes, Menas," I cried, "and out with the oars. We'll risk the galley. You, Martina, set me at the mouth of the gangway and tell me when to strike. Though I be blind I may yet hold them back till we clear the quay." She obeyed, and I drew the red sword from beneath my rags.
At length, however, he asked whether we were willing to become Moslems, since if so he thought that we might go free. We answered that we were not willing. "Then it would seem," he said, "that the lady Heliodore, having been taken in war, must be treated as a prisoner of war, the only question being to whom she belongs."
I must have words with the captain of this ship. Come, bring that drunken fellow with you." "Now all is finished," I said. "Yes," answered Heliodore, "all is finished. After we have endured so much it is hard. Well, at least death remains to us." "Hold your hand," exclaimed Martina. "God still lives and can save us yet." Black bitterness took hold of me.
Then we embraced again, and after that was finished Heliodore, her head resting on my shoulder, continued her story: "'What was she like, Mistress? asked the lady Martina, for by this time I had passed behind some little trees. 'I have seen no one who is beautiful in this garden except yourself.
Now, General, both parties have been heard and you shall pass sentence. If you say that yonder woman is to be blinded, this moment she looks her last upon the light. If you say that she is to die, this moment she bids farewell to life." Again I thought a while. It came into my mind that Irene, who had fallen from power, might rise once more and bring fresh evil upon Heliodore.
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