Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/286

260 Now Cerimon had had great experience in bringing back to life people who had lain a long time apparently dead. Especially he recalled the case of an Egyptian who had lain nine hours in a trance, and had afterward been recovered. Remembering this, he resolved, if it were within human means, to preserve a lady so beautiful, and so precious to the unknown writer of the scroll. He ordered preparation to be made for a medicinal bath, all kinds of stimulants to be got ready, and proceeded himself to use those powerful medicaments by which he hoped to restore her to life. His labors were rewarded, for in a short time the color began to deepen on her cheek, from her parted lips a slight breath began to issue, and Cerimon could feel under the silken drapery in which she was enveloped, the beating of her heart. He redoubled his efforts, and presently she sat up, and in a faint voice asked for her lord and husband.

As soon as Thaisa was sufficiently recovered to hear the story of her supposed death, and her burial in the stormy waves, which had so kindly thrown her into the hands of Cerimon, all these circumstances were related to her. She was convinced that Pericles must have been lost in the sea from which she had been so wonderfully preserved, and she resolved to go to the temple of Diana, which was in Ephesus, and devote the