The Perilous Seat

Dryas, the young Delphian, finished his song. As he did so he leaped impulsively to the sheer edge of the temple platform, leaning forward in the very attitude of the Archer God...

Theria was gone. Yet in the room the awkward silence held. Then by some hidden sympathy Nikander’s hand beckoned to Dryas and Dryas himself started forward at the same moment.

A little girl in an ancestral house—a slender, vivid, flashing little girl whom yet the rich traditions of her line filled to the brim with dreams—such had been Theria in her ch...

Nikander was a tall slender man, a remarkable uniting of sensitiveness and force. Twelve generations of his forbears had been priests of Delphi, statesmen of wide outlook and mi...

So Theria’s world was bounded by the house. Fortunate was it then that the house was rich in memories. Rich otherwise it was not. No earnest Greek beautified his own house when...

So throughout the winter months Dionysos, that god who came from far Asia into Greece, held sway in Delphi. Apollo was gone on his distant mysterious journey to the land of the...

It was through a guest that Theria first came to visualize those distant colonies of the west which gave so many gifts to Delphi and played so important a part in Delphi’s life.

There was no use mincing matters; Lycophron, the eldest son of Nikander, was not satisfactory. Handsome in person, he had nevertheless always been slow to learn and swift in evi...

But, oh, the further marvel! Theria was to go up to the Precinct to see the sacred rite. She was older now. Had she not already dedicated her girlhood toys to Artemis? Soon she...

One hot summer morning Melantho and her daughter were sitting in the upper room spinning. Or rather it was Melantho who was _sitting_. Theria was pacing to and fro at her task,...

In times of war we picture every corner of a warring land torn with passion, dark with fear, dyed with blood. But this is not so. In Nikander’s household the four meals a day we...

Theria awoke in the first grey of dawn. She sat bolt upright in her narrow bed. A dream had awakened her, or rather a purpose, a purpose full formed in sleep. Awake, even her bo...

She sped across the road and hid behind the Phokian offering. She could hear the priests’ pleasant voices talking of Delphi. From where she stood a little path set out here behi...

Sounds of distress brought her quickly to her feet. She hastily wrapped herself in her himation. She peered down the slope and could see the figure of a man moving wildly about...

Bitterness and confusion were Theria’s portion when she reached home. Melantho was ill from anxiety and stormed alternately at Theria for her misdeed and at poor Baltè for not t...

Theria, Nikander knew, would not give way to fear. However, she did give way to curiosity. She questioned Medon, but Medon would tell her nothing. “Your father has forbidden us,...

One evening she had sat there until the violet twilight gathered and the stream down in the lane ran uproarious among the damp mists. Presently she heard footsteps and looking d...

The next morning Nikander returned to his home. He retired at once to rest after his journey. Theria met him as he came forth again from his room in the late afternoon. It was p...

“No, but that is the more reason we should stand by him. We should think and act with him. Lycophron”—she caught the corner of his himation, twisting it in her fingers—“you coul...

Theria paced to and fro in the large upper room, weaving. She had unskilful hands for this craft also as well as for spinning. Her figures of gods were stiff, her colours never...

Next morning it was Nikander himself who came to awaken his daughter. The house was full of the bustle and awe of the departure. The dawn was yet grey. Melantho brought a white...

The old house-mistress received them; a stubby little person, most proper and severe, who fixed her eyes upon Theria intently and disapprovingly. As she let them in, a curious s...

She was glad to be alone. The coming three days seemed hardly enough for her prayers and importunities to her god. The Athenian danger possessed her. She felt inspired and stron...

When Theria awoke next morning she did not at first remember where she was. For the first time in her life she opened her eyes upon a room not her own. Then she noted over in th...

“Gazes for hours at nothing,” was the reply. “The usual thing. Though it is not usual that the apathy come so soon. She has gone but once to the tripod. Aristonikè now, not so s...

Next week happened what Theria most feared: An important oracle was required. Theria learned by chance that it was important. Old Tuchè in her excitement over it forgot how loud...

A fever burned through all her limbs. As evening came on old Tuchè was fain to take her out of the close house and lay her in front of the door on the high temple platform.

Theria stood still in front of the house. She was stunned as one must be when life turns a sharp corner and shows undreamed-of paths of dread. “No place in the Pythia House, no...

Eëtíon had said to Theria that he was going upon an urgent quest. The quest was indeed an urgent one. Eëtíon set about it instinctively, not considering how little chance there...

Nikander had returned to his aula and sat there with face of stone. The kinsmen had gone. He himself had sent the doom upon his sons. For him Delphi was already in the dust. The...

Meanwhile, Nikander and Dryas of the easy confidence came to the temple of Athena Forethought where this time no Theria was to be found. Dryas looked into his father’s grieving...

Theria lay on her couch without change, except to grow weaker each day. Baltè had her own remedies. She brought a sieve and suspended it from the ceiling. Then she whirled it, r...

What Dryas reported was true. The Delphians were deserting their town, whether from great faith or great fear, who could say? Their temple guard could not be called an army. It...

Eëtíon paced the room in bitter distress. “How could you make her priestess?” he said, forgetting all kindness. “How could you take away her last chance for action and noble liv...

Nikander’s care was now to save as much of his household treasure as might be. Before this time his anxiety over his children had so beset him that he cared little whether anyth...

In Delphi, where all was danger, the Precinct was perhaps the most dangerous place, yet Nikander with his faith did not think this, nor would any other Greek think it.

The night was deepening. Eëtíon and Dryas, fully armed, stood guard together on the temple platform not far from the Pythia House. Nikander, at their insistence, had gone within...

Surely never was a happier, humbler band of victors than these who now returned along the road to the Precinct. Nikander and Eëtíon bearing Dryas on a litter, the temple guardsm...

Early next morning Nikander returned to the Precinct. The smoke of the Great Altar was lifting in a glorious column. Not one priest of Delphi but had promised gifts to the Far-D...

On leaving the Council, Nikander did what no other father in Hellas would have done: He went first to release his daughter before bringing the good news to his son.

Now that abnormal conditions were past, Nikander and his family returned to conventional ways. Theria must not meet nor see Eëtíon. Of course she must not. She must be shut in t...

On the far-away coast of Sicily, the western outpost of the world, lay the little town of Inessa. One day men came from the neighbouring town Catana, attacked Inessa, and razed...

Time was when Nikander coming in had invariably asked, “Where is Dryas?” Now it was always, “Where is Theria?” looking about restlessly as though home were not home until Theria...

“Baltè, dress me quick, quick,” she commanded. “No, in my festival dress, the white one with the purple-flowered border. And I want the lovely big necklace, too, with the golden...

In the pleasant sunset hour there was great excitement in Delphi village. Men and women of the aristocratic families of the town were all upon the street. Since women were abroa...

Then followed a busy, happy winter. All the months must be passed in making ready the colony which was to start with the early navigation of the spring. Eëtíon journeyed to his...

In the early spring six good ships rode at anchor in the harbour of Kirrha. They were the small craft of that day. Hardy the folk who would put to sea in them.

Some were at first not satisfied with the site—those who had always lived directly upon the seashore. But in the council which met under the trees the Delphian mountain dwellers...