Egypt -- History -- 30 B.C.-640 A.D. -- Fiction; German fiction -- Translations into English
Orpheus, after seeing his parents killed in the fight at the Serapeum,
was carried, sorely wounded, to the sick-house of which Eusebius was
spiritual director. Agne had volunteered to nurse him and had watched
by his couch day and night. Eusebius had also brought Dada and Papias
to visit them, and Dada had promised, on behalf of Marcus, that Agne and
her brother should always be provided for, even in the event of the good
Deacon’s death. The little boy was for the moment placed in Eusebius’
care, and it was a cause of daily rejoicing to Agne to hear from the
kind old man of all the charming qualities he discovered in the child
who was perfectly happy with the old folks, and who, though he was
always delighted to see his sister, was quite content to part from her
and return home with Eusebius, or with Dada, to whom he was devoted.
Orpheus recognized no one, neither Agne nor the child--and when
visitors had been to see him, in his fevered ravings he would talk more
vehemently than ever of great Apollo and other heathen divinities. Then
he would fancy that he was still fighting in the Serapeum and butchering
thousands of Christian foes with his own hand. Agne, whom he rarely
recognized for a moment, would talk soothingly to him, and even try to
say a few words about the Saviour and the life to come; but he always
interrupted her with blasphemous exclamations, and cursed and abused
her. Never had she gone through such anguish of soul as by his bed of
suffering, and yet she could not help gazing at his face; and when she
told herself that he must soon be no more, that the light of his eyes
would cease to shine on hers, she felt as though the sun were about
to be extinguished and the earth darkened for all time. However, his
healthy vigor kept him lingering for many days and nights.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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