Cassandra

Cassandra Read Online Free PDF

Book: Cassandra Read Online Free PDF
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Tags: Historical, trilogy, Ancient Greece
those who sleep in his temples, and from the dreams our wisest priests could sometimes unravel the knot which had tangled sanity.
    From the direction of the rising sun, the suppliants came along the white road. They were always thirsty and dusty when they came into the first temple. I used to sit in one of the cypress trees and watch the procession trailing towards us, the rich on horses or in litters carried by slaves, the poor limping along on crutches, attended only by anxious daughters or wives.
    Rich or poor, they received the same treatment and care from us; otherwise the god would have been angered. The Bright One dealt healing and peace but if offended, fired arrows of pestilence and death.
    The suppliants travelled in groups, as there were bandits on the road, and timed their arrival for dawn. If they arrived later than that, they would have to wait until the next day to sleep with the god, although we dealt with urgent wounds and broken bones on the spot. The first temple was built to receive them, to feed them broth with soothing herbs and to wash off the stains of travel.
    I asked my master why they could only come in at dawn, while we came and went from the sacred precinct all the time. He smiled and said that the ways of a god were not to be questioned by men, adding, `We are healing their minds, Chryse, not just their bodies. Know thyself. All the stages of this treatment have a purpose and a reason, tried over many years. One thing that cannot ever be hurried is the undermind, the mind which must be convinced that it can be healthy. You are Hermes psychopomp today. As you are a guide, do you know the ways of the passages?'
    `Yes, Master Glaucus,' I nodded. I had wandered through and played in all of the maze of tunnels which connected the dormiton of the god, the cool paved underground chamber where the suppliants slept, to the dazzling surface. They slept in the tholos, in the womb of the Mother, and waited for the god to send them a dream which would reveal the root of their disease and give us a clue to their treatment. Sometimes dreams were perfectly clear - a certain herb or treatment would be revealed to the suppliant. More commonly the dream would be rich with symbolism, obscure, requiring the wise priests to sit and talk for days with the dreamer before they could find out the core and seed of their illness.
    As Hermes, I took the seekers by the hand, one by one and led them through the tunnels and mazes underground, where various priests in the masks of gods spoke to them out of the darkness.
    Master Glaucus said, `Today, instead of just waiting for the suppliants to come to the tunnel, you shall stay with them from the beginning. Then you may see how the god reveals himself to men. How many herbs do you know now, Chryse?'
    `One hundred and three, Master, and most of the combinations,' I said proudly.
    `What treatment would you give a woman of thirty suffering from yellow jaundice and dropsy, boy?'
    `Hot water baths, Master, and infusions of vervain and dog's grass in barley broth.'
    `Why would you give barley?'
    `It soothes, master. Also it is good with vervain, they complement each other.'
    `Why not use rue for the jaundice?'
    `Master, rue is cold and wet and her complaint is also cold and wet. She needs hot dry herbs.'
    `Barley is hot and wet, boy.'
    `Yes, master, but combined with vervain it is drying, and stimulates excretion of liquids.'
    `Good, very good. What herb is in your wreath?'
    `Vervain, Master.' I reached up to touch the spray of leaves which encircled my head and confined my hair. I was already clad in the psychopomp's purple tunic and golden harness.
    `Why do you wear vervain?'
    `It is the divine herb, master, revealed to Asclepius by the god himself.'
    `Tell me of the four humours.'
    It was getting on to dawn. A small cold wind sprang up. In the light of the flammifer on the temple gate, my master was as tall as a tree. I could not see his face, but his voice was gentle.
    `The four
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