Pushing aside the alarmed servants, Dorieus snatched the mantle from the pole. As he did so a little bird flitted from the folds and began to circle Dorieus with fluttering wings. Soon it was joined by another bird, chirping in angry protest.
Dorieus shook the mantle in amazement. A nest dropped from its folds and from the nest rolled two small eggs which smashed on the ground.
But Dorieus was not angry. Instead, he smiled and said, “See, there is the omen that I craved. My mantle wished to remain here although I myself am departing. I could not hope for a better omen.”
Mikon and I glanced uneasily at each other, for to us the broken nest and eggs seemed an ill omen. But Tanakil likewise began to smile and covered her mouth shyly. “I shall remember this omen, Dorieus, and in Eryx I shall remind you of it.”
On the following day we saw from a distance the high cone of the holy mountain of Eryx. Its peak was concealed by soft clouds, but when they parted we saw the ancient temple of Aphrodite of Eryx.
The land of Eryx was bursting into spring, flowers dotted the fields and doves cooed in the thickets although the sea still was restless. Unwilling to wait we began to ascend the deserted pilgrims’ road that circled the bleak mountain. We reached the small city at its peak just as the darkness of the sea and the entire land of Eryx glowed red in the sunset. The guards had noticed our approach and had delayed the closing of the gate to permit us to enter the city before night.
At the gate we were met by a crowd of noisy men who sought to outdo one another in tugging at our robes and offering their hospitality. But Tanakil was familiar with the city and its habits, dispersed the importuners with sharp words and led us through the city toward the temple area to a house surrounded by a garden in which we were graciously received. Our horses and donkeys were led to a stable and a crackling fire of resinous wood was lighted for us since the air of the holy mountain grew bitterly cold after sunset in the early spring.
The dark-faced innkeeper bade us welcome in fluent Greek. “There is still time to the festival of spring, the sea is uneasy and the goddess has not yet arrived from beyond the waters. Therefore my house is still in its winter condition and I know not whether I can arrange banquets worthy of you. But if you will content yourselves with my chilly rooms, uncomfortable beds and poor food, you may consider my house your home so long as you remain in Eryx.”
He made no attempt to pry into our affairs but departed with dignity and sent his slaves and servants to care for us. His behavior made a deep impression on me and I asked Tanakil whether he was by any chance a highborn man.
Tanakil laughed sarcastically. “He is the greediest and most unscrupulous extortioner in the entire city and weighs with gold every mouthful that he offers. But his house is the only one worthy of us and while we live here he will protect us from all the other vermin in this holy city.”
“But must we wait before an empty temple until the spring festival?” I asked in disappointment. “We have no time for that.”
Tanakil smiled slyly. “Aphrodite of Eryx has her mysteries just like the other deities. At the beginning of the sailing season she arrives from Africa with her retinue in a ship with purple sails. But still the temple is not empty during the winter to one who is familiar with it. On the contrary, the most important state visits are paid and the most expensive offerings made during the quiet season when large crowds, sailors and peddlers do not disturb the mysteries. The time-honored fountain of the goddess stands both winter and summer and the goddess may manifest herself within the temple although she does not bathe in the fountain until the spring festival.”
Her words filled me with doubt. I looked at her painted cheeks and cunning eyes and asked, “Do you really believe in the goddess?” She stared long at me. “Turms of Ephesus,” she said at last, “you don’t know what you ask. The goddess’s fountain in Eryx is ancient. It is older than the Greek fountains, older than the Etruscan, older even than the Phoenician. It was a sacred fountain even before the goddess appeared to the Phoenicians as Astarte and to the Greeks as Aphrodite. What could I believe if I didn’t believe in the goddess?”
The heat of the embers sent me outside to breathe the sharp air of the mountain peak. The sky glittered with the small stars of spring and in the thin air I smelled the fragrance of earth and of pines. The sturdy temple reached upward from its terrace against the night sky, and I was overcome by a presentiment that the goddess in her capri-ciousness was a more formidable enigma than I had believed.
2.
But when I awakened to a new dawn everything was different. When one arrives in a strange city at dusk it seems larger and more mysterious than by the light of day. In looking around with rested eyes I saw that the holy city of Eryx was really quite insignificant with its log hovels and stone huts. After all, I had seen Delphi, I had lived in Ephesus, and in Miletus I had seen a large modern city the like of which was nowhere in the world. This tiny alien city with its screaming inhabitants and peddlers seemed pitifully unimportant compared to what I had seen before, and its insignificance grew as I looked about me from atop the wall which had been heaped together of earth and stones. The vastness of the sea surrounded it. This was the westernmost tip of the civilized world, and beyond it lay only unknown Phoenician waters extending to the Pillars of Herakles and beyond them to the sea of the world. On the landward side stretched the plain with its chestnut forests, olive trees and cultivated fields, and behind them rose the steep mountains of the land of Eryx.
With my ears humming from the wind and my eyes dazzled by the infinite sea, I looked at the temple walls and the barbarically clumsy colonnades. What could I hope to find in that insignificant temple? I was overcome by a sudden feeling that I had been born into the world alone and that I no longer believed in gods.
After Tanakil had made arrangements for us to enter the temple we bathed and dressed in spotless clothes, cut a tuft of hair from our heads and burned it in a flame. Then we took our votive offerings and went to the temple.
We were allowed to enter the temple freely and to view the votive offerings in the entrance hall as well as the empty pedestal in the goddess’s chamber. Several irritable priests guided us and accepted our offerings without a word of thanks. Save for several large silver urns we saw few expensive offerings, but the priests explained that the goddess’s clothes and jewels were kept in a treasure vault. When she had doffed her winter garments and bathed in the ancient fountain she would again be dressed in her incomparable clothes, pearls and gems.
In fact, it was as though we were visiting any other public building. Only when we approached the fountain and the goddess’s doves took flight did I feel the proximity of power. The fountain was large and deep and its concave walls curved unseen into the mountain beneath its opening. It was half filled with water and the dark unrippled surface reflected our faces. Surrounding it inside the modern peristyle was a row of ancient conical rocks, and the priests assured us that a man who had lost his virility had only to lay a hand on one of those stones to recover it immediately.
I saw none of the customary temple maidens, the priests explaining that they arrived with the goddess to participate in the spring festival and to serve the more demanding visitors, but departed with her in the autumn. Besides, Aphrodite of Eryx did not favor such sacrifices within the walls of her temple. The city was for that purpose. Harlots from everywhere came to Eryx for the summer and erected their leaf shelters outside the walls and along the mountain slopes.