nt during the period of the first Queen Arsinoe's conspiracy,
and envious foes had done their best to prejudice the King and his
sister-wife against Archias. Then the gray-haired hero fearlessly
interceded for his friend, and the monarch did not remain deaf to his
representations. King Ptolemy was writing the history of the conqueror
of the world, and needed the aged comrade of Alexander, the sole
survivor who had held a prominent position in the great Macedonian's
campaigns. It might be detrimental to his work, on which he set great
value, if he angered the old warrior, who was a living source of
history. Yet the King was still ill-disposed to the merchant, for while
he destroyed Archias's death sentence which had been laid before him for
his signature, he said to Philippus: "The money-bag whose life I give
you was the friend of my foe. Let him beware that my arm does not yet
reach him from afar!"

Nay, his resentment went so far that he refused to receive Hermon, when
Eumedes begged permission to present the artist whose sight had been so
wonderfully restored.

"To me he is still the unjustly crowned conspirator," Philadelphus
replied. "Let him create the remarkable work which I formerly expected
from him, and perhaps I shall have a somewhat better opinion of him,
deem him more worthy of our favour."

Under these circumstances it was advisable for Archias and Daphne to
remain absent from Alexandria, and the experienced couple could only
approve Hermon's decision to go to Pergamus as soon as Erasistratus
dismissed him. A letter from Daphne, which reached Thyone's hands at
this time, increased the convalescent's already ardent yearning to
the highest pitch. The girl entreated her maternal friend to tell her
frankly the condition of her lover's health. If he had recovered, he
would know how to find her speedily; if the blindness was incurable,
she would come herself to help him bear the burden of his darkened
existence. Chrysilla would accompany her, but she could leave her father
alone in Pergamus a few months without anxiety, for he had a second
son there in his nephew Myrtilus, and had found a kind friend in
Philetaerus, the ruler of the country.

From this time Hermon daily urged Erasistratus to grant him entire
liberty, but the leech steadfastly refused, though he knew whither his
young friend longed to go.

Not until the beginning of the fourth week after the operation did
he himself lead Hermon into the full