CHAPTER XXXVII

XXXVII

A few nundina later, maybe a full moon afterwards, Cornelia gave me a crimson leather

tubular container. Once all by myself, having made sure that nobody would disturb me,

I tore off the seal, which happened to be Cornelia’s.

“My little Cornelia:

As you may see, it’s impossible for me to transmit you all that this letter contains face

to face, nourishing myself on that beautiful clean energy that pours out of your being...

Perhaps today, while you are reading this, I will be on my way to the islands which are

beyond the Roman Sea. In other words, the city we call Gades, very near the place

where your husband is now fighting Pompeius’ followers’ remaining resistance. As you

can imagine, this is not my last farewell but many seasons must still go by before I

return to Rome...

Several nundina after our last meeting, I had the chance of visiting the queen of the

Nile. It was Cornelia, who, thanks to having been your husband’s former mother-in-law,

made that possible. Quite a hectic daily life, that of Ptah’s incarnated daughter...I think

that being introduced by Cornelia as someone who is knowledgeable on the arcane

wisdom that Tyrrhenians bequeathed to Rome was quite favourable for me. By the

way, your lord has such a beautiful mansion...Haven’t you ever been there, Calpurnia?

And those gardens which, as I have been informed by a trusty person, will probably be

given to Roman people. Forests of trees that have been taken from his military

expeditions in the East and Hispania.... Reborn Isis herself had the kindness of

showing and describing them to me. Despite all that aura of gold, precious gems and

heavy clothing that heightened and simultaneously masked that fragile though deadly

creature, she is no more than a scarce wrapping of brownish skin covering that small

body which looks like a youthful mummy, despite the ambiguous brightness of her

large eyes, crowned by dense black eyelashes within that dark henna frame and that

masterfully devised smile in her fleshy lips, whose flashing gloss could have been

achieved with some kind of cosmetics that are completely unknown to me. Yes, she

was aware how deeply I was noticing it all as if reading a map, each voice inflection,

undertone and musical shade she thoughtfully gave to each syllable or word

throughout our talk on Etruscan lore and its rites and aruspices’ books... and also on

the arcane wisdom of that remote race who mostly disappeared under the sea and

whose survivors brought all that unique knowledge to the lands of the Nile, that wisdom

which, according to what Alexandrians say, inspired divine Thot during his mortal years

and taught us about the seven degrees of existence which throw a light over our origin,

yours and mine, our mothers’ and that of Tyrrhenian nymphs, Egeria and Vegeria,

those who begot the Sibyls’ knowledge....Through Calpurnius Piso, that tireless book

 

purchaser, you must have certainly heard of Tarquinius Priscus’ traduction of Aegeria’s

revelation to Airuns Velthumnus... I tried to control my voice as carefully as possible so

as to avoid being influenced by my interlocutor as I went on gradually unveiling all that

wisdom that we must surely share about what had once been revealed by Thot –

called Hermes Trismegistus by the Greek – and telling her how they may be related to

diverse aspects of Tyrrhenian lore. Then I could see some kind of puzzlement in that

look, which any other man would certainly find alien to simple human nature. Like that

voice, which she plays like a musical instrument according to a given number of

combinations that allow her to weave some sort of... tapestry, richest in deep shades....

That’s the right expression...in which to merge the person she has in front so as to

make him become a part of the story it depicts. Yes, no doubt that hermetic truth

according to which everything vibrates is something that not only has she fully grasped

but also practised as well. That ability to transform herself into a vibrating force beyond

her fleshy being, beyond simply human capacity...No wonder it has caused devastating

effects on your husband, the same that other men will suffer in the future…including

that stupid Antonius? No, I don’t think this blockhead might ever be stimulated by such

a subtlety as hers...

Through our conversation, studying the depth of her eyes despite her own will, she was

transmitting me so much more than what her words on ancient lore were telling me.

Having recently been more often in contact with the Dictator than you has enabled her

to witness certain frailties of his and even some tokens of incipient decadence which

you haven’t had the chance to notice. I think that so many years of physical challenges

have begun to leave their traces on him, something that has been enhanced by this

new phase of exaltation beyond his human nature which he seems to be...,enjoying?.

Cleopatra is ambitious but utterly aware of her youth, so cruelly alien to this fragile man

– yes, no matter what he has become or his alleged divine ancestry – who is starting to

grow into an elderly man. It’s even said that he even spent many sleepless nights,

devoted to banqueting, trying to avoid the risk of being murdered in his sleep. Imagine

the consequences of all this nutritional chaos on someone who has always been so

austere regarding food all through his life...If he should pass away....could you imagine

all the power the queen of Egypt would accumulate if she already were his wife? We

must veil for him, Calpurnia. I don’t know how... Who knows if they might have made a

secret agreement, according to any sort of peculiar Egyptian law that may enable the

Almighty She-Pharaoh to... demand whatever thing the wife to the King of Rome may

have the right to get? I clearly remember the doings of these oriental courts and

particular of those scheming eunuchs. Who can deny he has already included her in

 

his will?

 

Anyway, during the rest of the time I spent there I attempted to carry out that task you

had already begun some time before. Frankly speaking, I couldn’t expect you would be

able to develop such a power during that... trance-like experience? which moved your...

let’s call it like this... subtle being... to the boat trip through the Nile both of them were

enjoying .The Nile, again transformed in great life generating force thanks to the doings

of fertilized reborn Isis. Yes, as I once told you before, not only have I remembered the

principle of vibration but also that other one which claims that what is human and what

is divine are both the same thing. Both of them are fulfilled in her .But, nevertheless,

couldn’t it all be a coincidence? I had the strong feeling that Fertile Mother Goddess

won’t wear Isis’ face before New Alexander ever again...

As you must have perceived, I’ve impregnated this letter with a variety of incense that

is pregnant with clove and rosemary, so that my wish to veil after you may manifest

itself at its due height.

Cornelius”