In the still and silent night, the Delta lay flooded by the kindly
waters of the sacred river. From the Canopic to the Sebennytic mouth,
from the Phatmetic along the Mendesian to the Pelusiac mouth, the
Delta lay flooded: one still and silent sea in the night, a wide,
silver sheet of water without a ripple, stretching farther than the
eye could reach in the soft-falling sheen of the full moon. Between the
river-mouths the canals lay in streaks of silver light, full of water
to their edges. Past the blossoming reeds, past the blossoming lotuses
and water-lilies, the great barge glided up the stream as in a vision.
There was not a sound amid the silence but the dripping from the oars.
The night was muffled, wide and immense. It was as though the moon,
up above, had inundated the sky, even as the flood the sacred land
below. It was as though the flood of moonshine were drenching the
sacred sky also with a calm, unrippled sea, but a sea of light. The
night was like a noiseless, silvery day; the night was like a shadow
of the day. In that inundation of the light of heaven the stars paled,
innumerous, like a silvery powder sprinkled by the moonshine. There lay
the lake of Butos, wide and mystic and gleaming. Island emerged after
island. Palms stood in clusters, stately, motionless and delicate. A
shrine appeared and vanished as the dream-barge glided down a bend of
the canal. Country-mansions stood peacefully linked together. There
were taller dykes and patches of golden, shadowy wheat. Sheaves of
corn looked like the images of gods, reverence-compelling, ranged
in order beside one another, against the wall of a barn. A peculiar
scent was wafted by, a fresh aroma as of always moist flowers.
The outline of a village came into view. And hamlet joined itself to
hamlet, with shrines and mansions in between. Suddenly, farther up,
in the sea of glory, in the sea of light, huge needles rose on high
from the ground, with quivering lines, and became lost in the midst
of light.
Thrasyllus standing by Cora on the fore-castle pointed:
"The obelisks of Sais."
She turned, with a start, and was silent. The barge that afternoon
had left Naucratis along the canals which seam the Saitic nome, or
province. They were now nearing the capital, Sais, the capital of
all Lower Egypt. They already saw the Anubis Avenue. And suddenly,
at a bend, between very tall reeds blossoming with tassels and bowing
before the barge, Thrasyllus pointed:
"The temple of Isis-Neith."
There were sphinxes: they seemed to lift their basalt heads in prayer
to the moon and the sky. Lamps and lights twinkled like stars. The
thalamegus hove to; orders rang out; the sailors moored the vessel.
"The temple of Isis-Neith," Thrasyllus repeated to Lucius, who
approached with Catullus and Caleb.
They were all arrayed in long, white-linen robes. Cora also was
similarly clad, in a long, white, close fitting linen robe. She wore
a wreath of wheat-ears and lotus-flowers at her temples. For it was
the Night of the Glowing Lights, the Feast of the Burning Lamps.
"Nemu-Pha is waiting for me in the temple," said Thrasyllus. "I wrote
to him and he has consented to receive me. He is the high-priest
of Isis; and to-night he receives those who come to consult him. I
thought, Lucius, of going alone. Nemu-Pha is one of the holiest
prophets in Egypt. One word from him can perhaps enable me to guess
much. But, if you accompany me, with only a single thought in your
sick brain, you would break the mystic thread which might be woven
between the high-priest's spirit and mine. Let me go alone. I have
no other care than your happiness ... even though we are not agreed
on the form which it should take.
"Go, Thrasyllus," said Lucius.
"I don't think that I shall go on shore," said Uncle Catullus. "The
Night of the Glowing Lights and the Feast of the Burning Lamps leave
me cold. It is colourless and cheerless; it will be a spectral orgy. I
am too old and fat, Lucius, for spectral orgies. Go on shore alone
and amuse yourself as you may."
Lucius assembled his slaves, male and female. They were all in long,
white robes, the women wreathed with ears of wheat and lotus-flowers.
"You are all free to-night," said Lucius. "You have a night of
liberty. Until sunrise you belong to yourselves. Go your ways and do
whatever you please."
Rufus handed each a small sum of money. The slaves bowed low and
disappeared, between the palms, in the direction of the moonlit,
twinkling city.
Only a guard of sailors kept watch on the barge. Uncle Catullus retired
to his cabin. Tarrar also did not wish to go on shore and remained to
sleep at his master's threshold. The Feast of Isis made many shudder
who were not accustomed from their youth to its shivery mysticism.
Thrasyllus had gone. Lucius also went on shore. He saw Cora hesitating
under the palm-trees while the other women slaves had already gone
gaily to enjoy their night of liberty:
"Why don't you join your companions, Cora?" asked Lucius.
"My lord," Cora replied, "if you permit me, I would rather stay here."
"You are free to-night."
"What should I do with liberty, my lord?"
"You can do what you please, go to the temple and see the veiled Isis
... and enjoy yourself as and with whom you choose."
She cast down her eyes and blushed.
"There is a general holiday to-night," continued Lucius, "for slaves
male and female."
She folded her hands as though in prayer:
"My lord," she begged, "suffer me to remain here, near the barge. I
am afraid of liberty and of the big city."
"Do as you please," said Lucius.
He went on alone. Loneliness sent a shiver through him because of
this strange night which was like day. A white melancholy emanated
from his soul. He felt aimless. He would have preferred to accompany
Thrasyllus. He would not have minded going to bed. He had almost
invited Cora to accompany him to Sais, but did not think it suited
to his dignity.
He went alone, in his white raiment, in the bountiful moonlight. How
strange the night was, all white and trembling. He approached the
town. There was nothing but the monotonous rattling of the sistra
carried by the long-robed pilgrims who walked in procession to the
temple. All the houses along the road were lit with the lamps burning
at the doors and windows, vessels full of oil with burning wicks. It
was a strange pale-yellow twinkling in the moonshine. It was like a
funeral ceremony. For it commemorated the night on which Isis had
collected the scattered limbs of her brother and husband Osiris,
murdered and quartered by Typhon and scattered all over Egypt.
The procession streamed to the temple. Along the road, the hierodules,
the priestesses, danced to a monotonous chant, hand in hand, in a
long row. They threw a laugh to the numberless strangers who had come
to Sais, for that night. The strangers laughed back and picked out
the priestesses; and they withdrew together, first to the temple,
then farther away.
Three hierodules laughed to Lucius. They danced round him. He did not
wish to seem uncivil; also he felt very forlorn. He just laughed back,
wearily and kindly.
"Shall we come with you?" asked one of the hierodules.
"As you please," said Lucius. "Are you going to the temple?"
"If you wish."
They walked in front of him and beside him. They wore white,
close-fitting robes, with lotus-flowers and ears of wheat in their
hair. They were gentle and civil and obliging and young, like three
young children.
The white multitude streamed along the streets. The obelisks of
the dromos came into view. The temple rose gigantic and mysterious,
with numbers of square buildings and terraces stacked one above the
other. There were rows of gigantic pylons, which lost themselves in
the moonlit night. The monotonous melody of the sistra rattled on
every side; on every side the lamps twinkled. Lucius felt within him
an immeasurable melancholy, because of life and because of death,
because of people and because of himself.
The hierodules led the way. They were kind and courteous, glad at
meeting this amiable stranger, to whom they would be obliging, as
their duty prescribed that night.
They entered the pronaos and secos. In the immensity of the pillared
spaces the countless sistra rattled eerily, producing a vibration
which was no longer music: it was as though the pylons and pillars
themselves were rattling, as though the very earth were rattling.
Suddenly Lucius felt a cold shiver pass through him. In the holy of
holies rose the veiled Isis. It was an immense statue, five fathoms
high and surrounded entirely with a silvery film, seamed with
hieroglyphics. Above the image, on the architrave, was written:
I AM WHO HAVE BEEN,
WHO AM
AND WHO SHALL BE;
AND NO ONE HAS LIFTED MY VEIL.
Around the image shone thousands of burning vessels, of glowing
lamps. There was a mist of light and a smoke of incense. And round
about the image there was the incessant dance of the hierodules and the
worship of the sacrificing priests, all the night through. And ever,
like an obsession, there was the rattle of the sistra, as though the
whole immense temple were rattling.
Lucius, led by the three women, offered his sacrifice at one of the
numberless altars. The priest pronounced the sacred words and Lucius
poured forth the libation and paid his gold coin.
He felt desperately unhappy.
"Sir," asked one of the women, "do you wish us all three to accompany
you to one of the temple-chambers? Or would you have two of us
go away?"
He laughed softly at their polite manners, like those of young and
well-brought-up children. He gave a melancholy glance:
"I am unwell, I am very unwell," he said. "I think I will go home
alone."
"Your eyes are full of pain, sir," said one of the hierodules.
And one of the others said:
"Cannot we comfort you and cure you?"
Lucius shook his head.
"Then let us lead you home," said the third.
They left the temple.
"I live on the river," said Lucius. "I came in a thalamegus."
They walked beside him, like shades. When they reached the barge,
Lucius said:
"I am at home here. Let me thank you and pay you. May holy Isis
protect you!"
"May holy Isis cure you, sir!" said the hierodules.
He gave them a gold coin apiece. They disappeared in the night,
like shades. But under the palm-trees was another shade. It was Cora.
"I am not well," said Lucius. "I came back."
"Do you wish to go to bed, my lord?" asked Cora.
"No, I should not be able to sleep," replied Lucius. "This night is
strange and unreal. I will lie here under the trees."
"I will leave you, my lord."
"No, stay," he said. "I am ill and I feel lonely. Stay."
"Suffer me to fetch you a cloak and a pillow, my lord."
"I thank you."
She disappeared into the barge and returned with the pillow and
cloak. She covered him up and pushed the pillow under his head.
"The night is strange," he repeated, "and unreal. It is like a white
day. There is no dew falling. I shall remain here till Thrasyllus
comes. But do you stay. I feel ill and lonely."
"What can I do, my lord? I may not sing: only the sistrum may sound
to-night."
"Dance to me; move in the moonlight. Can you dance without
accompaniment?"
"Yes, my lord," said Cora.
He lay under the palms. Cora danced in the open moonlight, near the
tall river-reeds. She twisted and turned like a white water-nymph
that had risen from the stream. She stood still, in attitudes of
rapture. She adored Isis, her hands uplifted to the moon. She was
very lithe and slender, very white, with white flowers and ears of
wheat around her temples.
He lay without moving, watching her. And he thought his only thought:
where could Ilia be? For there had not been more than one pirate....
When, late in the night, Thrasyllus returned, he found Lucius asleep
under the palms with Cora keeping vigil beside him.
"My lord is asleep," said Cora. And she asked, "Tell me, Thrasyllus:
what did Nemu-Pha say?"
The old tutor looked gloomy. And he said:
"The wise ages have been drowned in the night of time. Egypt is Egypt
no longer. Sais is Sais no longer. If wisdom still tarries here and
is still to be found, I shall find it not by the sea, not in the
Delta. This is the granary and the emporium of the world ... but
nothing more. Great Isis hides behind her veil the worthlessness and
venality of her priests, whose last remaining pride is to sell in
great secrecy the word, 'Be a god unto yourself.'... That word does
not satisfy me. But there is Memphis, there is Thebes. I still have
hope, Cora ... that I shall find the divine word which will cure him."
The old man stepped on board the barge. The night waned; yonder,
in Sais, the twinkling of the Burning Lamps died away.
In the east, the light broke through, as through a bursting
sluice. Long, rosy islands seemed to drift in an ocean of molten
gold. A long flight of cranes, black against the golden sky, swept
down to meet the dawn. Cocks crowed; and on the waters of Lake Butos
the first lotus-blooms opened their white chalices. As it were crimson
flowed and lay, here and there, over the silent, silver streaks of
the canals, in pools of purple red.