# XVIII explained — The Tour

> Chapter companion for The Tour by Louis Couperus.

## What happens

Lucius, grappling with the revelation that Ilia left him for the sailor Carus, visits the great Sphinx (Neith) and encounters a Jewish hermit who claims to have seen a radiant child in the lap of the Sphinx, interpreted as a vision of a new god. The chapter explores Lucius's internal turmoil and the contrast between human grief and divine mystery.

## Themes in this chapter

### Grief and Healing

Lucius's silent grief over Ilia's betrayal and his attempt to suppress it through pride and acceptance of oracular truth.

### Deception and Survival

Caleb's deceptive act of pocketing the gold meant for the hermit, and the hermit's rejection of material wealth in favor of spiritual vision.

### Mortality and Transience

The hermit's vision of a radiant child as a fleeting, transcendent moment that eclipses all past and future knowledge.

## Character check-ins

### Publius Lucius Sabinus

Struggles with the truth of Ilia's betrayal by Carus; seeks solace in oracles and the Sphinx; resolves to keep his grief silent.

### Caleb

Arranges the visit to the Sphinx and the Jewish hermit; dismisses the hermit as mad; secretly pockets the gold meant for the hermit.

### Catullus

Overwhelmed by the impressions of Egypt; expresses fear and discomfort, preferring to retreat to his camel.

### Thrasyllus

Whispers that the hermit is a seer who may have seen the new god spoken of by the sibyls; urges Lucius to leave for safety.

### Tsafnath-Paeneach

The Jewish hermit who claims to have seen a radiant child in the lap of Neith; rejects gold, declaring his wisdom dead since the vision.

## Key lines

> He certainly was the Cypriote, the sailor, Carus … who, shortly before Ilia’s disappearance, had himself disappeared from the crew of the quadrireme … and whom he had once found with Ilia among the oleanders!

Lucius realizes that Ilia's lover was Carus, a Cyprian sailor from his own crew, whom he had caught with Ilia among the oleanders.

_Lucius's painful acceptance of Ilia's infidelity with a lowly sailor._

> I am Tsafnath-Paeneach, ‘he who reveals mysteries!’ I am of the tribe of Joseph himself, who took to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On!

The hermit declares himself a revealer of mysteries, descended from Joseph and the priestly line of On.

_The hermit's claim to prophetic lineage and wisdom._

> Since then I know nothing more, O Jahve, be praised! Since then I have discovered no mysteries! Since then the knowledge of Joseph has died away within me and that of the priests of On! For I have seen Jahve’s Son, there, there, in the lap of Neith … and since then I have seen nothing but that vision!

The hermit says his wisdom ended after he saw Jahve's Son in the lap of the Sphinx, and now he only sees that vision.

_The hermit's transformative vision of a divine child, eclipsing all prior knowledge._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_tour_se/chapters/xviii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_tour_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_tour_se/chapters