Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Marc D’Hooghe, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team HISTORICAL MINIATURES By August Strindberg Translated by Claud Field, M.A. PREFACE Maximilian Harden, the well-known critic, writes in the _Zukunft_ (7th September 1907) of the _Historical Miniatures_: “A very interesting book, as might be expected, for it is Strindberg’s. And I am bold enough to say a book which should and must be successful with the public. The writer is not here concerned with Sweden, nor with Natural History. A philosopher and poet here describes the visions which a study of the history of mankind has called up before his inner eye. Julian the Apostate and Peter the Hermit appear on the stage, together with Attila and Luther, Alcibiades and Eginhard. We see the empires of the Pharaohs and the Czars, the Athens of Socrates and the ‘Merry England’ of Henry VIII. There are twenty brief episodes, and each of them is alive. So powerful is the writer’s faculty of vision, that it compels belief in his descriptions of countries and men.” “The question whether these cultured circles really were as described, hardly occurs to us. Never has the remarkable writer shown a more comprehensive grasp. Since the days of the _Confession of a Fool_, Strindberg has become a writer of world-wide significance.” [Footnote: one collection of Maximilian Harden’s essays is published by Messrs. Blackwood, and another by Mr. Eveleigh Nash.] CONTENTS PREFACE THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE THE HEMICYCLE OF ATHENS ALCIBIADES SOCRATES FLACCUS AND MARO LEONTOPOLIS THE LAMB THE WILD BEAST THE APOSTATE ATTILA THE SERVANT OF SERVANTS ISHMAEL EGINHARD TO EMMA THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM PETER THE HERMIT LAOCOON THE INSTRUMENT OLD MERRY ENGLAND THE WHITE MOUNTAIN THE GREAT CZAR THE SEVEN GOOD YEARS DAYS OF JUDGMENT STRINDBERG’S DEATH-BED THE EGYPTIAN BONDAGE The old worker in ebony and cabinet-maker, Amram, dwelt by the river-side in a clay-hut which was covered with palm-leaves. There he lived with his wife and three children. He was yellow in complexion and wore a long beard. Skilled in his trade of carving ebony and hard wood, he attended at Pharaoh’s court, and accordingly also worked in the temples. One morning in midsummer, just before sunrise, he got out of bed, placed his implements in a bag, and stepped out of his hut. He remained standing on the threshold for a moment, and, turning to the east, uttered a low prayer. Then he began to walk between fishermen’s huts, following the black broken bank of the river, where herons and doves were resting after their morning meal. His neighbour, the fisherman, Nepht, was overhauling his nets, and placing carp, grayling, and sheat-fish in the different partitions of his boat. Amram greeted him, and wished to say some words in token of friendliness. “Has the Nile ceased to rise?” he asked.