W. H. D. Rouse
speaker
684 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 1 Aug
W. H. D. Rouse’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
it might be brief at the best it could not be very long it was madness to lose a day an hour that would be the only fatal mistake to forfeit anything of the bargain that he had made he would have it and hold it and enjoy it all to the full the world might have nothing better to give than it had already given but surely it had many things that were new to bestow upon him
and marcian should help him to find them under his learned counsel the house of the golden pillars took on a new magnificence artists were brought from corinth and rome and byzantium to adorn it with splendor its fame glittered round the world banquets of incredible luxury drew the most celebrated guests into its triplenium
and filled them with envious admiration the bees swarmed and buzzed about the golden hive the human insects glorious moths of pleasure and greedy flies of appetite parasites and flatterers and crowds of inquisitive idlers danced and fluttered in the dazzling light that surrounded
everything that he touched prospered he bought a tract of land in the caucasus and emeralds were discovered among the mountains he sent a fleet of wheat ships to italy and the price of grain doubled while it was on the way he sought political favor with the emperor and was rewarded with the governorship of the city his name was a word to conjure with
the beauty of athenaeus lost nothing with the passing seasons but grew more perfect even under the inexplicable shade of dissatisfaction that sometimes veiled it as a translucent cloud that passes before the full moon
fair as the wife of hermes was the proverb in antioch and soon men began to add to it beautiful as the son of hermes for the child developed swiftly in that favouring clime at nine years of age he was straight and strong firm of limb and clear of eye his brown head was on a level with his father's heart he was the jewel of the house of the golden pillars the pride of hermes the new fortunatus
that year another drop of success fell into his brimming cup his black numidian horses which he had been training for three years for the world-renowned chariot races of antioch won the victory over a score of rivals hermes received the prize carelessly from the judge's hands and turned to drive once more round the circus to show himself to the people he lifted the eager boy into the chariot beside him
to share his triumph here indeed was the glory of his life this matchless sun his brighter counterpart carved in breathing ivory touching his arm and balancing himself proudly on the swaying floor of the chariot
as the horses pranced around the ring a great shout of applause filled the amphitheatre and thousands of spectators waved their salutations of praise hail fortunate hermes master of success hail little hermes prince of good luck the sudden tempest of acclamation the swift fluttering of innumerable garments in the air startled the horses they dashed violently forward and plunged upon the bits
the left rein broke they swerved to the right swinging the chariot sideways with a grating noise and dashing it against the stone parapet of the arena
in an instant the wheel was shattered the axle struck the ground and the chariot was dragged onward rocking and staggering by a strenuous effort hermes kept its place on the frail platform clinging to the unbroken rein but the boy was tossed lightly from his side at the first shock his head struck the wall and when hermes turned to look for him he was lying like a broken flower on the sand
six great fear and recovered joy they carried the boy in a litter to the house of the golden pillars summoning the most skilful physician of antioch to attend him for hours the child was as quiet as death hermes watched the white eyelids folded close like lily-buds at night even as one watches for the morning
at last they opened but the fire of fever was burning in the eyes and the lips were moving in a wild delirium
hour after hour that sweet childish voice rang through the halls and chambers of the splendid helpless house now rising in shrill calls of distress and senseless laughter now sinking in weariness and dull moaning the stars waxed and waned the sun rose and set the roses bloomed and fell in the garden
the birds sang and slept among the jasmine bowers but in the heart of hermes there was no song no bloom no light only speechless anguish and a certain fearful looking for of desolation he was like a man in a nightmare he saw the shapeless terror that was moving toward him but he was impotent to stay or to escape it he had done all that he could there was nothing left but to wait
he paced to and fro now hurrying to the boy's bed as if he could not bear to be away from it now turning back as if he could not endure to be near it the people of the house even athenus feared to speak to him there was something so vacant and desperate in his face
at nightfall on the second of those eternal days he shut himself in the library the unfilled lamp had gone out leaving a trail of smoke in the air the sprigs of mignonette and rosemary with which the room was sprinkled every day were unrenewed and scented the gloom with a close odor of decay a costly manuscript of theocritus was tumbled in disorder on the floor
hermes sank into a chair like a man in whom the very spring of being is broken through the darkness some one drew near he did not even lift his head a hand touched him a soft arm was laid over his shoulder it was athenais kneeling beside him and speaking very low
hermes it is almost over the child his voice grows weaker hour by hour he moans and calls for someone to help him and then he laughs it breaks my heart he has just fallen asleep the moon is rising now unless a change comes he cannot last till sunrise is there nothing we can do is there no power that can save him is there no one to pity us and spare us
Let us call.
Showing 381–400 of 684 · page 20 of 35
← Previous
Next →