The artistry of love

King Alexander returned to Athens in 334BC after years of travel and exploring distant lands far from home.  His return was widely celebrated throughout the kingdom. An air of festive spirit and celebratory cheer loomed over the city. 

In honour of his return, a fête was organized. Merchants displayed their wares and their young daughters. Cloth merchants showcased their collection of sequenced fabrics. Fruits sellers, bird sellers, hawkers, magicians all had something or the other to put up on display. Painters  thronged the streets too, offering to paint or sketch their customers in exchange for a fee. 

Romano, a young painter, saw this as his chance to get noticed for his artistry. He displayed the best painting he had ever made, the portrait of his lover, Illeana.  He displayed the painting at the market square. A large crowd gathered around his painting to admire the empyrean beauty of the woman on the canvas. Her curly black hair fell over her sloping shoulders in the most graceful way. Her eyes bore a tinge of hazel and mischief. She wore an amused expression, almost as if she were teasing the painter. Her nose was long, narrow and hawk like. 

"Is she a goddess?" Asked one of the spectators. 
"No" said Romano
"Is she a princess? She is befitting to be one" said another
"She is neither Goddess not princess" said Romano. 
The sound of a horn pierced the air, a Greek court official walked up to the little party around the painting and said 
"why has a crowd gathered here? Make way for the king" 
The crowd turned to look at the direction from where the courtier had appeared. A troupe of seven horseman on white horses surrounded King Alexander who sat atop a black horse. Alexander had long flowing hair, canon sized shoulder muscles, a large barrel chest and a sturdy square jaw. He dismounted his horse and made his way to Romano's painting. He scrutinized the painting and finally said
"who is the woman?" 
"Illeana Martakis" said the painter.
"Bring your painting and the woman to my court tomorrow morning" said the king. 
Romano bowed in obedience. 

The next day, as ordered by the king, Romano arrived at the court with his painting in hand and his lover in tow. 
"Why does he want to see me?" argued Illeana.
"To know if my painting depicts your features accurately" 
"Did he say so himself?" asked the young girl. Romano remained silent.
When the painter and the woman were escorted  the courtroom, an eerie silence fell over the gathering. Alexander stood and surveyed the woman. "She is just as beautiful as your painting" said the king.
Illeana blushed and the painter bowed at the appreciation. 
The king now spoke only to the woman, "are you his wife?" 
Illeana looked over to the painter and said "no" 
"Who is your father?"
"Kostas Martakis, he is a tradesman"
"What does he trade in?"
"Horses" 
"I love horses, does he have an wild horses?"
"I do not know"
"Taming wild horses is one of my favourite pastimes" 
The court remained silent. "Will you protest if I were to ask your hand in marriage?" asked Alexander.
Illeana, who was hitherto shy, turned pale 
"I will protest" interrupted Romano. 
The king turned to face him, "and you are?"
"I am her lover" 
"If you loved her, why didn't you marry her? I would not have asked her hand, had she been your wife" said the King.
"We love each other, I was going to ask her father soon"
"When?"
"When I earned a considerable sum of money"
"Why money? Do you survive on money?" Asked the king turning to Illena
"No" she replied
"Sufficient money to keep her happy" argued Romano
"Money does not buy happiness"
"But it would pleasure me a great deal to keep my wife clothed in comfort and wealth" said Romano 
"So your endeavors were purely for pleasures of your own. This is not love!" said the King
"Take the woman to the Parlour and summon her father. Show the painter out" said the King
Illena burst into tears as she was taken to the parlour. Romano began to put up a fight. He punched the soldier in the face. A group of soldiers hustled him to the ground. He was dragged out of the courtroom and thrown out of the front gates.

Illena's father was more than happy with the match and assured the king that he would never have agreed to her alliance with the painter. "He is a ruffian, a loiterer, an idler" 

Illena cried a lot and made feeble attempt at protesting. She had no courage to defy her father and could not cultivate any to defy her king. She had submitted to her fate and resigned to what lay in store. She thought of Romano often and ritualistically cried herself to sleep. She would never again see him sketch over the hillside. She would never again carry bread and cheese for him while he worked. She would not spend afternoons with him with her head pressed against his lap while he painted. 

Romano tried everything within him to protest. He went to the extent of standing on the highest rooftop and screaming about what an unjust ruler Alexander was. He created a public nuisance by upsetting the wares of merchants all in the hopes of getting his point across. Some sympathized, many were irked by his display of emotional instability. Eventually someone brought it to the notice of the king that Romano was making a public spectacle of himself. The king ordered him to be imprisoned for causing public unrest. 
While in prison, Romano tried to bribe the guards into letting him out so that he could meet Illena. Again the news of his behaviour reached Alexander who lost all patience with the painter. 
He ordered that the painter be hanged for treason. When the news of the death sentence reached Illena, she broke down. She begged her father to intervene and rescue the painter. But her father remained stoically unmoved. 
A day before Romano was to be hanged, he was asked to make his final wish. His wish was to make a painting of Illena again, for the last time. The king was naturally annoyed with this request but he had to concede given that he was known to be just. He conceded on the condition that Illena would be made to sit at the center of room and wouldn't be told that she was being painted. Romano would be kept at a considerable distance, hidden behind a steel door. He would have to look through the keyhole at Illena and paint her. Even though the arrangement seemed unfair on so many levels, Romano agreed. 
So Illena was made to sit unaware at the center of a room. She was ordered not move until told to do so. 
Romano saw her through the peep hole and began painting. She twitched and shifted uncomfortably. Her nose leaked, her eyes watered, her brows furrowed, her forehead bore traces of sweat. She occasionally wiped her face but mostly sniffed. She looked desolate and bereft. 

Romano completed the painting within three hours. But when the final canvas was placed before the king, he was stunned. Illena looked far from beautiful. When compared with the first painting, there seemed a world of a difference. Her eyes were swollen, the blush from her cheeks had faded. A frost had taken over her sunny disposition. She looked like a flower during the dying days of summer, almost withered! 

The King was flabbergasted. How could his bride to be look so distressed? She didn't look as beautiful as she did in the first painting. The second painting gravely troubled his mind and so he summoned Aristotle and begged him to find an explanation if there was one.

Aristotle looked at the two paintings and plainly said "isn't it obvious? She was in love in the first painting and her cup of love has been dashed from her lips in the second" 

Alexander sighed "she isn't happy about marrying me?"
Aristotle replied "she isn't happy about marrying anyone other than the painter" 

Alexander saw reason and finally after deliberating the matter decided to set the painter and Illena free. 

For after all Alexander could not bring himself to force a woman against her wishes. And he would not stand in the way of true love.