Memnon

In ancient Greece the bones of heroes were superstitiously regarded, and those of Hector of Troy were sacredly preserved at Thebes.

The tools used in the construction of the Trojan horse were kept at Metapontum; the scepter of Pelops was held at Chaeronea; the spear of Achilles at Phocelis; and the sword of Memnon at Nicomedia.

Miraculous statues of Minerva that brandished spears abounded; and paintings that could blush, and images that could sweat, also existed.

In India there are numerous teeth of Buddha, which his worshipers believe capable of performing miracles; and his coat, which, as Prince Siddhattho, he laid aside on entering the priesthood, has been miraculously preserved, and is still shown.

Zoroaster and Aesculapius also had similar experiences, as did Elijah and Adonis.

Osiris rose from the dead and bore the title of the resurrected one, his ascension being celebrated in Egypt at the vernal equinox, as is the Christ's, and as was Adonis's.

Other saviors who rose from the dead were Dionysius, Heracles, Memnon, Balder, and Quetzalcoatl.

Modern Catholics are still taught the fables of the bodily ascension of Jesus, Mary the Virgin, and Mary the Magdalene, and many other holy persons, as actual miraculous truths, not to be questioned nor denied.

On the ninth day the king and his people made a great burying for Hector, such as had never been seen in the land of Troy.

THE END OF TROY After these things came Memnon, a black warrior, who said he was the son of mourning.

He slew Antilochus, son of Nestor, and was himself slain by Achilles.

Not many days afterwards Achilles himself was slain by the Scythian gates.

It is my box royal, and this amphitheater my theater of San Carlo.

Yes, the scenery is magical, the illusion so complete And Madame Meadow Lark, my prima donna, plays her grand engagement here And drinking in her sunrise note, which, Memnon-like, seems struck from the golden window How far from me the weary face behind it! But every night, when the curtain falls, truth comes in with darkness No light shows from the mountain To and fro I walk the piazza deck, haunted by Mariana's face, and many as real a story End of section one Section two of The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by John Greenman Chapter two A, Bartleby, part one I am a rather elderly man The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom, as yet, nothing, that I know of, has ever been written I mean the law copyists or scriveners I have known very many of them professionally and privately, and, if I pleased, could relate divers histories at which good-natured gentlemen might smile and sentimental souls might weep But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener, the strangest I ever saw or heard of While of other law copyists I might write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography of this man It is an irreparable loss to literature Bartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable except from the original sources, and in his case those are very small What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, that is all I know of him, except, indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel Ere introducing the scrivener as he first appeared to me, it is fit I make some mention of myself, my employer, my business, my chambers, and general surroundings, because some such description is indispensable to an adequate understanding of the chief character about to be presented Imprimis, I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, even to turbulence at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever suffered to invade my peace I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause, but, in the cool tranquillity of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgages and title-deeds All who know me consider me an eminently safe man The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence My next method I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor, a name which I admit I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion I will freely add that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor's good opinion Some time prior to the period at which this little history begins, my avocations had been largely increased The good old office now extinct in the State of New York of a Master of Chancery had been conferred upon me It was not a very arduous office, but very pleasantly remunerative I seldom lose my temper, much more seldom indulge in dangerous indignation at wrongs and outrages But I must be permitted to be rash here, and declare that I consider the sudden and violent abrogation of the office of Master in Chancery by the new Constitution as a blank, blank, premature act Inasmuch as I had counted upon a life lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short years But this is by the way My chambers were upstairs at number blank, blank Wall Street At one end they looked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious skylight shaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom This view might have been considered rather tame than otherwise, deficient in what landscape painters call life But if so, the view from the other end of my chambers offered, at least, a contrast, if nothing more.

In that direction, my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick wall, black by age and everlasting shade, which wall required no spyglass to bring out its lurking beauties but, for the benefit of all nearsighted spectators, was pushed up to within ten feet of my window panes.

Owing to the great height of the surrounding buildings, and my chambers being on the second floor, the interval between this wall and mine not a little resembled a huge square cistern.

Goethe quoted by Outhouden on the Romans.

And another has thus written, Even in the things of the world around us there is an element of life, a yearning of what is bound, which like that Memnon statue unconsciously makes symphony when the ray touches it from above.

Schubert cited by the same.

End footnote.

Dwell in some idle brain, And fancy's fawn with gaudy shapes possess, As thick and numberless As the gay motes that people the sunbeams, Or like as hovering dreams, The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train.

But hail, thou Goddess, sage and holy! Hail, divinest Melancholy! Whose saintly visage is too bright To hit the sense of human sight, And therefore to our weaker view Or laid with black, stained wisdom's hue Black, but such as in esteem Prince Memnon's sister might be seen, or that starred Ethiop queen that strove to set her beauty's praise above the sea-nymphs and their powers offended.

Yet thou art higher far descended.

Thee bright-haired Vesta long of yore to solitary Saturn bore.