the
place of the oracle. A week after their arrival it was opened to them,
yet the words repeated to them by the priest satisfied neither Hermon
nor Archon's son, for the oracle advised the latter to bring his mother
herself to the oasis by the land road if she earnestly desired recovery,
while to Hermon was shouted the ambiguous saying:

"Only night and darkness spring from the rank marsh of pleasure;
Morning and day rise brightly from the starving sand."

Could Silanus's mother, who was unable to move, endure the desert
journey? And what was the meaning of the sand, from which morning and
day--which was probably the fresh enjoyment of the light--were to rise
for Hermon? The sentence of the oracle weighed heavily upon him, as
well as on Archon's son, who loved his mother, and the homeward journey
became to the blind man by no means a cheerful but rather a very
troubled dream.

Thoughtful, very disturbed, dissatisfied with himself, and resolved to
turn his back upon the dreary life of pleasure which for so long a time
had allowed him no rest, and now disgusted him, he kept aloof from his
travelling companions, and rejoiced when, at Alexandria, he was led
ashore in the harbour of Eunostus.

CHAPTER VII.

Hermon entered his house with drooping head.

Here he was informed that the grammateus of the Dionysian artists had
already called twice to speak to him concerning an important matter.
When he came from the bath, Proclus visited him again. His errand was
to invite him to a banquet which was to take place that evening at his
residence in a wing of the royal palace.

But Hermon was not in the mood to share a joyous revel, and he frankly
said so, although immediately after his return he had accepted the
invitation to the festival which the whole fellowship of artists would
give the following day in honour of the seventieth birthday of the old
sculptor Euphranor. The grammateus alluded to this, and most positively
insisted that he could not release him; for he came not only by his own
wish, but in obedience to the command of Queen Arsinoe, who desired to
tell the creator of the Demeter how highly she esteemed his work and his
art. She would appear herself at dessert, and the banquet must therefore
begin at an unusually early hour. He, Proclus, was to have the high
honour of including the royal lady among his guests solely on Hermon's
account, and his refusal would be an insult to the Queen.

So the artis