A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 11

http://proza.ru/2021/03/04/382 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 1. http://proza.ru/2021/03/04/382
http://proza.ru/2021/03/09/1868 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 2.  http://proza.ru/2021/03/09/1868
http://proza.ru/2021/03/15/256 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 3.  http://proza.ru/2021/03/15/256
http://proza.ru/2021/03/16/302 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 4.  http://proza.ru/2021/03/16/302
http://proza.ru/2021/03/17/214 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 5.  http://proza.ru/2021/03/17/214
http://proza.ru/2021/03/21/621 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 6. http://proza.ru/2021/03/21/621
http://proza.ru/2021/03/24/573 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 7. http://proza.ru/2021/03/24/573
http://proza.ru/2021/03/26/295 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 8.  http://proza.ru/2021/03/26/295
http://proza.ru/2021/04/01/574 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 9.  http://proza.ru/2021/04/01/574
http://proza.ru/2021/05/08/1300 A tutorial of a writer s success. Chapter 10.  http://proza.ru/2021/05/08/1300




Chapter 11. It is easier for a woman to believe not a prophecy about the future but the reality of the present

11.1. The Prophet Jonah and Catherine [Ekaterina]: The life paths are dividing off

Some biographical details of Heinrich Schliemann's relationship with his first wife, Catherine, who was born in Russia, and with his second wife, Sofia, who was born in Greece, may prompt readers to ponder the rules of success in a complex area of marital (family) relations.

In Russia, a successful businessman, a rich man, got married (October 12, 1852 Old Style).

His wife was Ekaterina Petrovna Lyzhina [Lyschin], who came from a cultural Petersburg family.

A son and two daughters were born.

After the end of the Russial, "commercial" period of his life, Heinrich Schliemann gradually switched to archeology.

For Heinrich Schliemann, those models of the life path that were offered by the capital Petersburg were becoming too narrow.

In the following acts of a civilizational, cultural and archaeological event, as the life of Heinrich Schliemann, there was practically no place for Ekaterina Schliemann (Lyzhina).

Age, state of health, habits, upbringing, the established adaptation to the Russian St. Petersburg environment, the desire to raise children, a certain patriotism - all these and other circumstances oriented Ekaterina towards life in Russia, in St. Petersburg.

Her letters, published in a good-quality book "Don't bring Homer with youself ..." ("Don't bring with yourself [the verses of] Homer…" Letters of Ekaterina Schliemann (Lyschin) to Heinrich Schliemann" (1998)), conscientiously prepared by Igor Bogdanov, testify to her good education (she was a graduate of the elite "Petrishule" [school]), to a good literary style, in general, about the understanding of life.

Her attitude to such a manifestation of her husband's talents as the prophetic gift did not differ from the attitude to prophecy on the part of most people. “... a prophet has no honor in his own country” (John 4:44).

Switching to archaeological activity, Heinrich Schliemann changed his place of residence, position in the scientific community (became a doctor of philosophy), the format of money comings (he invested in Parisian income apartment buildings), became a US citizen.

The question arose: what to do with family, wife, children?

Both Ekaterina and the children were baptized in the Orthodox faith (Heinrich Schliemann was of "Evangelical Lutheran confession"), which at that time (second half of the 19th century) gave her (wife) some formal advantages when she disagreed to her husband's demand regarding departure (final exit) with children abroad from Russia. It seems that the family legislation of Russia (of that time) was a somewhat unexpected and very unpleasant discovery for Heinrich Schliemann.

Heinrich Schliemann's letters, written during this period to his wife Ekaterina, give the impression of very emotional documents.

After reading them, even when switching to other affairs, I personally had the impression that I was hearing a loud desperate cry. (Later in the book by Igor Bogdanov "Heinrich Schliemann. The Triumph of Myth" ["Heinrich Schliemann. The victory of the myth"]  I came across the phrase about these letters: "... reading them, as if you hear the voice of a person who feels very bad” [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 32] [Bogdanov I.A., 2008 b. P. 32]).

The content of the letters suggests that Heinrich Schliemann foresaw the catastrophic consequences of Ekaterina's decision to stay with her children in Russia. In a letter sent on February 25, 1867 to his wife's brother, Pavel Petrovich Lyzhin [Lyschin] (this relative supported the Ekaterina's desire to continue living in St. Petersburg, in Russia), Heinrich Schliemann uses such strong words: "...You will bring death and disaster upon my poor children"  [Шлиман Е., Письма. С.15] [Ekaterina Schliemann, Letters ... P.15].

Heinrich Schliemann's appeals to Ekaterina, to her relatives, acquaintances do not help to solve the problem of the family  full and final departure abroad (with children).

Some evolution is observed in the position of Heinrich Schliemann.

On July 10, 1867, he wrote a letter to Ekaterina, in which the word "abduct" appears ("... in a country in which ... an abandoned husband must [is forced to] abduct his children ...") [Шлиман Е., Письма. С.19] [Ekaterina Schliemann, Letters ... P.19]. (We may note that Ekaterina's letter to her husband, written a little earlier, dated September 30, 1866, contains the words: "... do not enter the agreement [conspiracy] with the servants, do not frighten me, leaving with Seryozha secretly, after having conspired with the coachman and lackey ..." This is about the departure of Heinrich Schliemann on a journey along the Volga and about the seeing off with participation of son Sergei.

Heinrich Schliemann's views, his position continued to evolve.

On March 4, 1868, Heinrich Schliemann sent a letter to Catherine in St. Petersburg, which contains the following words: "... [you will] stay in St. Petersburg with your daughters ...", "... you will release Serezha for me [... you will give Serezha to me].  I will raise, bring up him in Dresden." Further, this letter says: "... you [chose?] for youself the Russian law, against which my efforts [are in vain?]. So I admit mine defeat with only one [mine] moral [the right?]. I hold you solely responsible for all the possible [bad?] consequences from the upbringing of our children in Russia". In this 12-page letter, Heinrich Schliemann, in particular, writes to his wife: "In my dreams and in reality ... I constantly see of [You?] and of our children, and the my desire for a quick date with [you?] is indescribable [a very big]." The same letter contains the following phrase: “I brought you and the children wonderful things from Havana and, by the way, [4] large tin boxes with sweets” [Шлиман Е., Письма. С. 23, 26, 28, 30] [Ekaterina Schliemann, Letters ... P. 23, 26, 28, 30].

For Heinrich Schliemann, Fate signaled in 1854, just before the Memel fire: "Hold on to your commercial partners!" He followed this instruction and made the right decision.

Whether Ekaterina Petrovna Lyzhina-Schliemann was given the signal "Hold on to Schliemann!" - it is unknown, and if the such signal was given, she either did not recognize it, or did not follow it (didn't take it into account).

Of course, her move from St. Petersburg would have been psychologically difficult affair for her. She would have lost her familiar environment, and Heinrich Schliemann, very likely, would not have stopped travels and excavation for the sake of living together with Ekaterina.

And did she want such life - life together with him?

On the other hand, after Heinrich Schliemann formalized the divorce (in the USA) and marriage to Sophia (in Greece), Ekaterina, perhaps feeling psychological discomfort in her usual environment, left Petersburg. She spent significant periods of time in Kiev and Moscow.

She could communicate with Petersburg relatives, say, from Dresden as (like) from Kiev ...

What else was to hold on to?

To hold on to the language environment?

Ekaterina - a graduate of Petrishule - she knew German well; a significant part (may be a half) of her entourage in St. Petersburg were ethnic Germans; her father and older brother were buried in Dresden.

Something was stopping Ekaterina ...

"As far as I know, a dispute between them arose over where Noah's Ark was built, and since they did not come to any agreement, the break was inevitable" (Э. Распэ. Вечера барона Мюнхаузена) (Rudolf Erich Raspe. Evenings of Baron Munchausen).

One thing can be said for sure: the horror of Heinrich Schliemann, expressed in the words "...you will bring death and disaster upon my poor children" (in case of not moving from St. Petersburg to Dresden) was confirmed by the facts:

1. In 1869,  Natalya (one of the two daughters) died in St. Petersburg,

2. The descendants (son, second daughter, and grandchildren) of Heinrich and Catherine (Catherine died in 1896, six years after Heinrich's death) fell into the meat grinder of pre-revolutionary, revolutionary and post-revolutionary events in Russia.

Only the second daughter Nadezhda, although was affected by this revolutionary meat grinder, but managed to stay alive and healthy and relatively prosperous. She succeeded to leave (after all!) from Russia after 1917 abroad.

The circumstances of Sergei's death are not clear.

The son of the world famous archaeologist-millionaire-American citizen-Parisian rentier continued to live in Russia, in the USSR. Sergei was starving, living in poverty, he was begging, slowly dying, he was humiliated.

He died either in 1939 or in 1940.

The details of his sad fate are presented in the book by Igor Bogdanov "Heinrich Schliemann. The Triumph of Myth" ["Heinrich Schliemann. The victory of the myth"] (Chapter 4, entitled "Once again, goodbye, my adored son... ") [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 102] [Bogdanov I.A., 2008 b. P. 102] 

The details of Sergei's fate are beyond the scope of this book, which is now being read by the dear Reader.

I will note only that Sergei, like any "ordinary" person, who is not marked by special abilities, can somehow cause irony, ironic regret, and involuntary ridicule.

Nevertheless, it is obvious that his father did not leave him without support. Heinrich Schliemann helped him constantly.

Sergei  seems to be not marked himself by any particularly low or especially bad deeds. "He did not rob - he did not kill" - if you apply hyperbole. Weaknesses are inherent in all people. Studied, married, worked as best he could. It seems, he raised three children. Was moderately patriotic. Sergei aspired to something, something did not work. He was not able to catch stars from the sky.

If it were not for the international and Russial events of the early 20th century, he would have been an ordinary, respectable person. Perhaps even - he would have been a happy man. But events happened, and the  life became tragic.

However, we note for a fairness that Sergei  with his wife Anastasia (a pianistess who graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1885 with a "small" silver medal), albeit in distress, he lived (together with her), which is documented, from the beginning of July 1885 up to at least June 1931, that is, up to the age of seventy-five [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 143, 144, 158] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 143, 144, 158]. About whether the marriage was happy, we seem to have no direct statements from Sergei; we can only judge by facts. If marriage suited Sergei, then, at least in this aspect, he can be classified as a successful people: “Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord” . (Proverbs 19:14.). If Sergei lived until 1939 or until 1940, then in terms of life expectancy he came close to his grandfather Ernest Schliemann (1780 - 1870). The opinion was expressed that Sergei died at the age of 84 [Богданов И., 1994 г. С. 172] [Bogdanov I., 1994. P. 172].

According to those non-formalized rules that operated in the Soviet Union, after the publication in 1938 of the first edition of M. Meyerovich's book about Heinrich Schliemann, in  Sergei's life (in the last months) some changes could have occurred ...

The fate of Sergei's children, - the grandchildren of Heinrich Schliemann (Andrei, Dmitry, Sergei), - is also not clear.

Unclear, but essentially tragic, judgments, details are colored by the drama of the revolutionary destruction of the Russian Empire.

Here is a detail, given by Alexander Gavrilov: “There is a letter from Dmitry Schliemann from the western front in the archives of the Pushkin House, dated 2—1—1916 ... Young Russian officers Schliemann and Engelhardt are resting after the march ... ... D. Schliemann, the woman-musician's son,  is accompanying [plays the piano]... Whether D. Schliemann died during that war, or later from typhus, the relatives who emigrated did not have accurate information: it is not even clear whether the rumor about typhus refers to Andrei or to both ” [Гаврилов А. К. С. 281] [Gavrilov A. K. P. 281] ...

The Empire is still alive, the music is playing. But somehow it's not fun ...

Interestingly, Heinrich Schliemann in 1877 (already being married to Sophia for more than one year and having a daughter Andromache from her) secured a promise from his son Sergei to marry a Greek woman (Heinrich Schliemann offered his son specific candidates for potential brides) and hand over two grandchildren to grandfather (that is, to Heinrich Schliemann) for education [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 132-135] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 132-135]. The prophet Jonah was looking deep,  he saw far.

With surname "Lyzhina [Lyschin]" before  marriage, Ekaterina Petrovna took her husband's surname: "Schliemann". But she had two brothers: Nikolai and Pavel. Both with surname "Lyzhin". Here is what one of the representatives of the Lyzhin family (our contemporary) wrote in one of the publications: "Almost no one was left of the large Lyzhin family in St. Petersburg-Leningrad - some left after the revolution, others were arrested and died in camps or died during the blockade of Leningrad" [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 196] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 196]. (“Blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)).

Perhaps Ekaterina Lyzhina-Schliemann outside Russia would be sad, uncomfortable, and lonely.

Although Heinrich Schliemann, busy with travel, excavations, and maybe a new marriage, would hardly have prevented Ekaterina from communicating with her children and Petersburg relatives. And ethnic Germans, representatives of cultural and commercial circles, would have surrounded her in Dresden; this was largely the circle of her contacts in Petersburg.

But what kind of sadness and discomfort is this compared to the deaths and tragedies that followed in the first half of the 20th century in Russia!

The children of the American citizen, millionaire, world celebrity Heinrich Schliemann would have been somewhat easier if they succeded to leave Russian Empire for Western Europe in the second half of the 19th century. “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22).

While reading the letters by Ekaterina Lyzhina-Schliemann to Heinrich Schliemann [Шлиман Е., Письма.] [Schliemann E., Letters.], getting acquainted with the details of her life path, you come to a retrospective conclusion: she was a well-mannered, an educated (regarding "Petrishule" [school], in which she studied, there is an article in Wikipedia ), a respectable, a prosperous, a well-arranged woman who was born and raised among educated and worthy people. She in her own way loved Petersburg and Russia, she wished well for her children.

Her letters are written in a good syllable ("... These letters ... written in excellent Russian ..." [Богданов И. А., 2008 а. С. 21] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 a. P. 21]).

In her letters, the abilities of a writeress for a women and for a young people (children) are visible.  (A calm, partly soothing, even tone, benevolence, the ability to reason and generalize, imagery, formulating the role of a woman, understanding the role of a good education for a children.) 

One of the phrases seemed to fly over from classical literature into a letter (dated August 21; apparently, 1853) of Ekaterina to her husband: “... a heart from stone, which is not [afraid of anything?]" [Шлиман Е., Письма. С. 48] [Schliemann E., Letters. P. 48] (it is not clear from the publication what or who is it about; legibility and quality of the originals are sometimes not of a high level; the words are in square brackets with a question mark.)

Note Ekaterina's knowledge of the German language, her use of French in letters. In a letter dated September 20, 1859, Ekaterina wrote to her husband: “Le style c'est l'homme ... ... You, it seems, did not stop loving me during these 8 years " [Шлиман Е., Письма. С. 77] [Schliemann E., Letters. P. 77] (“Style is a person” (fr.)).

Note that the word "catastrophe" is used not only by Heinrich Schliemann (in his autobiography in relation to the events that caused the termination of his studies at the gymnasium), but also by Ekaterina: "I thank God that this year I did not face [I did not see] this catastrophe" [Шлиман Е., Письма. С. 119] [Schliemann E., Letters. P. 119] [Богданов И. А., 2008 а. С. 320] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 a. P. 320].

The Lyzhin family's circle of contacts - scientists, teachers, businessmen - very positively influenced the worldview and educational level of the Russian millionaire, who was fascinated by Homer. (This was convincingly showed by Alexander Gavrilov  in his book St. Petersburg in the fate of Heinrich Schliemann. St. Petersburg, 2006 — 448 p. [Петербург в судьбе Генриха Шлимана. СПб., 2006. — 448 с.])

Ekaterina never “served” [she's never been employed] [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 57] [Bogdanov I.A., 2008 b. P. 57]. I mean, she never was hired. However, from her letters a picture emerges. She was heavy loaded with responsibilities for raising children and managing the household and home.

Heinrich Schliemann was absent for a long time due to business trips, travel. ("The unresting [tireless] traveler who spent his life on the road" [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 315] [Bogdanov I.A., 2008 b. P. 315].)

With a certain degree of convention, her duties can be equated with the duties of the head of a private family kindergarten, an educator. In the second marriage, similar duties related to children (son and daughter) were performed by numerous and friendly relatives of the Greek woman Sofia, as well as by hired educators.

The possibility and necessity of a compromise solution [compromise option] between Ekaterina and Heinrich Schliemann was, but was not obvious to her. Not to everyone a prophetic gift is given, or the gift of understanding the rightness of someone who has such a gift. And the very insight of the future is not yet equal to effective actions to adapt to this future.

From some point (January 1869), Ekaterina and Heinrich went - each - their own ways in life. The children of Heinrich Schliemann from his first marriage, despite his efforts made after his arrival in St. Petersburg in March 1866, remained in Russia. Heinrich Schliemann continued to provide financial support to Ekaterina and children. 


11.2. The cunning Odysseus and Sophia: lives unite

The relationship of Heinrich Schliemann with his second wife, Sophia, a native of sunny Greece, was also not easy, but by the time of his second marriage he had experience of family life.

In addition, the second marriage, perhaps, was positively influenced by the relative of Sofia, Bishop Vimpos. (The influence of the Orthodox Church in Greece for a number of reasons was very, very significant).

In February 1869, Heinrich Schliemann, who had not had an intimate relationship with a woman for six years, sent a letter to his former teacher (in the study of the modern Greek language), Theokletos Vimpos, asking him to find Heinrich a Greek wife. (“... I rejected the offer of the Russian tsarina with the same firmness that I always showed in relation to the queens, who sought my closeness and offered me their hand,” (Э. Распэ. Вечера барона Мюнхаузена) (Rudolf Erich Raspe. Evenings of Baron Munchausen).

“Vimpos wisely replied: “The one who chooses a wife, can be compared with a man in front of whom a bag full of snakes, among them - a single turtle; if he pulls out a turtle, then he is lucky, and if a snake, then he is very unlucky"" [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 59-61, 65] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 59-61, 65] 

After such an expressive answer Heinrich Schliemann could not help but think. Perhaps he put marriage closer to the first place in the list of priority directions of his efforts. Imagine what skills and qualities it takes to try to just put your hand in a bag of snakes. (To get hand out of the bag is a separate stage, a separate phase).

For Heinrich Schliemann, who is able to quickly acquire new skills and knowledge, it was important to correctly formulate and set a task for himself.

On the other hand, it may be that the “involvement” of Bishop Vimpos in the choice of a second wife helped Heinrich Schliemann avoid having to deal with a “bag full of snakes”.

Heinrich Schliemann had no life experience of the break with his second wife; whether any prophecies sounded and how they were perceived is difficult to say. 

However, archaeological prophecies sounded - and came true. But a well-known detail is interesting, which suggests that by the time of his second marriage, Heinrich Schliemann had mastered the art of building family relations. This detail is the dressing of Sophia with jewelry from the Trojan treasure trove and photographing her in these jewelry. These actions of Heinrich Schliemann are described from the point of view of pride in his young, beautiful wife and from the point of view of popularizing the Trojan findings.

But these actions also had a family-creative aspect. Heinrich Schliemann, by decorating his wife with Trojan treasures and by photographing, demonstrated - and very gracefully - his masculine exclusivity. No one could compete with him for the simple reason that no one else could neither excavate ancient Troy, nor find a treasure, nor secretly take out artifacts, nor protect them in court from the claims of the Ottoman Empire. The wide (worldwide) dissemination of the photo of Sophia in Trojan jewelry, to the whole world showed that the husband of this woman is (in large letters) HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN. And it was done quite subtly and gracefully. There was no need to "deal" with the "suitors"; they just didn't show up. Odysseus continued to progressing.

(The decoration of Sofia with Trojan jewels from the "Priam's treasure" ... Somehow involuntarily the "massive gold bracelets" on the hands of the (second) young wife of the retired pastor Ernest Schliemann Sophia may be recalled. The gold bracelets, which Heinrich saw in 1841 [Штоль. С. 72]  [Stoll. P. 72]).

There are many details in the history of the relationship between Henry and Sophia, showing the acquisition by the head of this family with the skills of the subtle art of building intrafamily relationships. It seems to me that Sophia's presentation on the Trojan excavations deserves special mention. This report took place  on June 8, 1877 (in the eighth year of their married life) in the library hall of the Society of Antiquaries of London [Вандерберг. С. 387] [Vanderberg. P. 387].

In the evening of the same day, in honor of the Schliemanns, the Lord Mayor of London arranged a banquet, which was attended by representatives of all ten scientists and literary societies, before which Heinrich Schliemann gave lectures in England [Стоун. С. 384]  [Stone. P. 384].

Sofia and Heinrich Schliemann were elected honorary members of the Royal Archaeological Institute [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 234] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 234].

“That's what I said to the general:
- I do not need any orders or ranks! I help you out of friendship, disinterestedly. Just because I really love the British. (...)

... And I patted the old man on the shoulder. I am glad to serve the British people" (Э. Распэ. Приключения барона Мюнхаузена) (Rudolf Erich Raspe. The Adventures of of Baron Munchausen).

The participation in such events emphasized that Sofia emerges to some extent from the traditional Greek environment and from kindred circle and turns out to be part of a single whole - the family of Schliemanns.

And in October, an exhibition of Mycenaean gold took place in Greece. "The exhibition was visited by the king and queen and invited Schliemann to the palace for dinner" [Стоун. С. 389]  [Stone. P. 389]. Note that the wife of George I of Greece, was a representative of the House of Romanov (and the sister of George I was the mother of Nicholas II).

Heinrich Schliemann and his second wife Sophia entered into correspondence with Elikonida Nikiforovna Latkina, who lived in Russia. 

Elikonida Latkina was both a frequent visitor to the St. Petersburg house of Schliemann. Also she was a close friend of Heinrich Schliemann's first wife, and the godmother of Sergei and Natalia (children from their first marriage).

In a letter (dated February 15, 1880) to Andrei Aristovich Schliemann, Elikonida Latkina, who had previously received a portrait of Sofia by mail from the Schliemanns, expressed her feelings: "I really liked your wife's face. ... many interesting advantages, intelligence and beauty, that clearly speak of a good heart of a loving wife and a wonderful mother of the family ... ... Thank God that you have finally found your family happiness ... " [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С.166, 168] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 166, 168]

Such letters (especially those sent from Russia by "former" acquaintances of Heinrich, - and in Russia the American divorce of Heinrich Schliemann was not officially recognized) contributed to the peace of mind of both Heinrich and Sophia, helped the family peace and harmony. ("Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:9)).

On a special order from his father, Sergei Schliemann handed over to Elikonida Latkina a copy of the book of the great archaeologist (most likely these was the book "Mycenae", published in English in 1878 and 1880) [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С.172] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 172].

Both the life experience and a knowledge of ancient Greek, ancient Roman mythology contributed to some generalizations.

For example, in a letter sent to Rudolf Virchow on January 6, 1881, Heinrich Schliemann wrote: “My wife, like all women, has a dark side - she is ambitious. In the name of all gods, use this side of it ...” [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 245-246] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 245-246].

"Juno is the ancient Roman goddess, the wife of Jupiter," "she always consulted with her" right hand "Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and arts, and her" left hand "was considered the" dark "goddess Ceres." ["Juno"].

Heinrich lived in a marriage with Sophia for 21 years (from 1869 to 1890). He wrote to his wife in 1890, perhaps summing up: “... Fate has prepared us a lot of sorrows and many joys. (…) In my opinion, our marriage was a success. You have always been a loving wife for me, a kind comrade, always supported me in difficult times ... you were an excellent mother. I… am already ready to marry you in the next life” [Богданов И. А., 2008 б. С. 263] [Bogdanov I. A., 2008 b. P. 263].

For prominent people, a slightly vulnerable area is sometimes the family rear. One of the memories about Sophia Schliemann has survived: “She was a very beautiful woman ... I have never seen her laugh” [Вандерберг. С. 433] [Vanderberg. P. 433]. It would seem a somewhat strange feature for a young beautiful woman: “never laughed”. But if you think about it, you can make a tentative conclusion about the wise creation by Sophia Schliemann a tangible distance, that  was separating the Schliemann family from the world around them.

It is interesting the change in the arguments of Heinrich Schliemann while negotiating a second marriage.

He wrote to Bishop Vimpos about the requirements regarding the own future wife: “She must enthusiastically love Homer and strive for the revival of our beloved Greece” [«Шлиман, Генрих»] ["Schliemann, Heinrich"].

And when he met Sophia in August-September 1869, he asked questions:

“- Would you like to make a long trip?

— Do you remember [the year] when the Emperor Hadrian visited Athens?

- What do you know by heart from Homer?" [Мейерович М. Л. С. 85] [Meyerovich M. L. P. 85].

As far as can be judged from information sources, Sofia's answers were satisfactory.

So a dear Reader can compare the own level of knowledge with the level of a graduate of the gymnasium Arsakeio for girls. (In this case, we will nevertheless take into account that the gymnasium was metropolitan, Athenian and the best in Greece [Стоун. С. 12]  [Stone. P. 12]).

“On the way, we met nothing surprising, except for a few flying women who fluttered through the air like a little butterflies” (Э. Распэ. Приключения барона Мюнхаузена) (Rudolf Erich Raspe. The Adventures of of Baron Munchausen).

And in July 1869, in a letter to Ekaterina (first wife), informing about the divorce, he used a different argument: “... I have repeatedly offered you a huge independent fortune.  I have offered you to buy in your name in St. Petersburg ..., a real estate in 100 thousand and even in 200 thousand rubles, [upon condition] if you fulfill your sacred duty to your husband” [Шлиман Е., Письма. С. 33] [Schliemann E., Letters. P. 33].

Hearing from Sophia the answer that her consent to the marriage was motivated by material considerations, Heinrich achieved a "replay".

“I swear that my biggest concern will be to make you a happy man,” Sophia wrote after correcting herself, beginning to understand that she was dealing with a genius.

In response, Henry informed on September 16, 1869: "In your letter you showed your respect and love for me, promising me home happiness, the greatest of earthly pleasures."

On September 23, 1869, the marriage took place.

“If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned” (Song of Songs 8:7).

Apparently, the methods of building a family happiness were significantly improved by Heinrich Schliemann.

Of course, family life is more complicated than individual schematic reasoning, but nevertheless, some of the features of Heinrich Schliemann's intra-family relations - parting with his first wife and building relationships with his second wife - deserve a description, albeit a very briefly.

Note that the Zodiac signs of Henry and of Sophia coincided ("Capricorn"); and one more consideration — however, not particularly significant, but to some of the readers it may seem curious: "a little more" and the dates of birth of Sophia and Henry would be separated by a 32-year cycle.

One of the laws of success of Heinrich Schliemann could be formulated as follows: "Try to save the family (using all the possibilities - up to the limit, to the last opportunity), but do not become a victim."