This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D.W.]
By Georg Ebers
After that interview with Orion, Philippus hurried off through the town,paying so little heed to the people he met and to the processionsbesieging Heaven with loud psalms to let the Nile at last begin to rise,that he ran up against more than one passer-by, and had many a word ofabuse shouted after him. He went into two or three houses, and neitherhis patients nor their attendants could recognize, in this abrupt andhasty visitor, the physician and friend who was usually so sympathetic tothe sufferer: who would speak with a cordiality that brought newlife to his heart, who would toss the children in the air, kiss one andnod merrily to another. To-day their elders even felt shy and anxious inhis presence. For the first time he found the duty he loved a wearisomeburthen; the sick man was a tormenting spirit in league with the worldagainst his peace of mind. What possessed him, that he should feel suchlove of his fellow-men as to deprive himself of all comfort in life andof his night's rest for their sake? Rufinus was right. In these timeseach man lived solely to spite his neighbor, and he who could be mostbrazenly selfish, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, wasthe most certain to get on in life. Fool that he was to let other folks'woes destroy his peace and hinder him in his scientific advancement!
Tormented by such bitter thoughts as these, he went into a neat littlehouse by the harbor where a worthy pilot lay dying, surrounded by hiswife and children; and there, at once, he was himself again, puttingforth all his knowledge and heartfelt kindliness, quitting the scene witha bleeding heart and an empty purse; but no sooner was he out of doorsthan his former mood closed in upon him with double gloom. The case wasplain: Even with the fixed determination not to sacrifice himself forothers he could not help doing it; the impulse was too strong for him.He could no more help suffering with the sufferer, and giving the besthe had to give with no hope of a return, than the drunkard can helpdrinking. He was made to be plundered; it was his fate!
With a drooping head he returned to his old friend's work-room.Horapollo was sitting, just as he had sat the night before, at hiswriting-table with his scrolls and his three lamps, a slave below,snoring while he awaited his master's pleasure.
The leech's pretty Greek greeting "Rejoice !" sounded rather like "Mayyou choke!" as he flung aside his upper garment; and to the old man'sanswer and anxious exclamation: "How badly you look, Philip!" heanswered crossly: "Like a man who deserves a kick rather than a welcome;a booby who has submitted to have his nose pulled; a cur who has lickedthe hand of the lout who has thrashed him!"
He threw himself on the divan and told Horapollo all that had passedbetween him and Orion. "And the maddest part of it all," he ended,"is that I almost like the man; that he really seems to me to be on thehigh road to become a capital fellow; and that I no longer feel inclinedto pitch him into a lime-kiln at the mere thought of his putting out ahand to Paula. At the same time," and he started to his feet, "even ifI help him to bring the poor little girl away from that demented old hag,I cannot and will not continue to be her physician. There a