Girls -- Juvenile fiction; Magicians -- Juvenile fiction; Seven Wonders of the World -- Juvenile fiction
“Now Sostratus, to whom the lighthouse represented all that he now
cared for in life, was determined that his own name should be read, if
not at the moment, at least in time to come. Yet he dared not disobey
the King’s command. This, then, was the device by which he tried to
ensure remembrance.
“Deep in the marble he first engraved:
“‘_Sostratus, son of Dexiphanes_, to the gods, the saviours, for the
benefit of sailors.’
“Having thus placed his own, instead of the King’s name upon the tower,
he then covered up the whole inscription with mortar, and on the top of
it engraved the inscription commanded by Ptolemy. Well he knew, that
in the course of years, the mortar would decay and his own name become
visible.... Rise, make seven obeisances towards the sea, and you shall
behold, if it please you, the lighthouse as it appeared a hundred years
after Sostratus and King Ptolemy alike had left this world.”
The children lost no time in obeying, and when they opened their eyes
they found themselves, to their delight, standing at the foot of the
beautiful white tower. Dinocrates, smiling, stood beside them, and
pointed to some lettering upon the tower at a little height above his
own head. The inscription was cracked and defaced, and as the words
were in Greek, they could not read them, but in a hollow, where the
mortar had broken away at the beginning of the sentence, they saw a
name which Dinocrates pronounced aloud—the name of Sostratus, now at
last plainly to be seen.
The children gazed with interest upon the splendid graceful tower
springing high above their heads, and then looked from it across the
bridge to the city.
“Why, the town is ever so much bigger. Twice, three times as big,”
cried Rachel, as she saw the clustering houses and let her eyes wander
over the new domes and colonnades, courtyards and gardens visible on
the other side of the harbour.
“A hundred years have passed between the opening and shutting of your
eyes,” said the voice of Dinocrates. “The city founded by Alexander and
built by me has had time to grow and to become one of the most famous
homes of learning in the world. There great men have lived and died,
and been forgotten, even as Sostratus, despite this inscription made
in vanity, is forgotten. But Alexandria still lives, though the Pharos
Tower, the Wonder of the World, is no more. And there, to-day, men
who have fought in this last great war are planning to dig for buried
treasures under modern houses and squares. Time goes on and men are
forgotten, but the work of their brains lasts longer, and sometimes
bears fruit centuries after they themselves have departed.... Here, for
instance, we stand in this modern lighthouse....”
* * * * *
It was Mr. Sheston (no longer in the guise of Dinocrates) who uttered
the last words. Dinocrates, the Pharos Tower, the City of Alexandria
had vanished, and a moment later Rachel and Diana were listening to the
sailor-man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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