During the night which had proved so eventful to our friends, much
had occurred in the king’s camp, for the troops were to advance to the
long-anticipated battle before sunrise.
Paaker had given his false report of the enemy’s movements to the
Pharaoh with his own hand; a council of war had been held, and each
division had received instructions as to where it was to take up its
position. The corps, which bore the name of the Sungod Ra, advanced from
the south towards Schabatun,
[Kadesh was the chief city of the Cheta, i. e. Aramaans, round
which the united forces of all the peoples of western Asia had
collected. There were several cities called Kadesh. That which
frequently checked the forces of Thotmes III. may have been
situated farther to the south; but the Cheta city of Kadesh, where
Rameses II. fought so hard a battle, was undoubtedly on the
Orontes, for the river which is depicted on the pylon of the
Ramesseum as parting into two streams which wash the walls of the
fortress, is called Aruntha, and in the Epos of Pentaur it is stated
that this battle took place at Kadesh by the Orontes. The name of
the city survives, at a spot just three miles north of the lake of
Riblah. The battle itself I have described from the Epos of
Pentaur, the national epic of Egypt. It ends with these words:
“This was written and made by the scribe Pentaur.” It was so highly
esteemed that it is engraved in stone twice at Luqsor, and once at
Karnak. Copies of it on papyrus are frequent; for instance, papyrus
Sallier III. and papyrus Raifet--unfortunately much injured--in the
Louvre. The principal incident, the rescue of the king from the
enemy, is repeated at the Ramessetun at Thebes, and at Abu Simbel.
It was translated into French by Vicomte E. de Rouge. The camp of
Rameses is depicted on the pylons of Luqsor and the Ramesseum.]
so as to surround the lake on the east, and fall on the enemy’s flank;
the corps of Seth, composed of men from lower Egypt, was sent on to
Arnam to form the centre; the king himself, with the flower of the
chariot-guard, proposed to follow the road through the valley, which
Paaker’s report represented as a safe and open passage to the plain
of the Orontes. Thus, while the other divisions occupied the enemy, he
could cross the Orontes by a ford, and fall on the rear of the fortress
of Kadesh from the north-west. The corps of Amon, with the Ethiopian
mercenaries, were to support him, joining him by another route, which
the pioneer’s false indications represented as connecting the line of
operations. The corps of Ptah remained as a reserve behind the left
wing.
The soldiers had not gone to rest as usual; heavily, armed troops, who
bore in one hand a shield of half a man’s height, and in the other a
scimitar, or a short, pointed sword, guarded the camp,
[Representations of Rameses’ camp are preserved on the pylons of the
temple of Luxor and the Ramesseum.]
where numerous fires burned, round which crowded the resting warriors.
Here a wine-skin was passed from hand to hand, there a joint was
roasting on a wooden spit; farther on a party were throwing dice for the
booty they had won, or playing at morra. All was in eager activity,
and many a scuffle occurred amoung the excited soldiers, and had to be
settled by the camp-watch.
Near the enclosed plots, where the horses were tethered, the smiths were
busily engaged in shoeing the beasts which needed it, and in sharpening
the points of the lances; the servants of the chariot-guard were also
fully occupied, as the chariots had for the most part been brought over
the mountains in detached pieces on the backs of pack-horses and asses,
and now had to be put together again, and to have their wheels greased.
On the eastern side of the camp stood a canopy, under which the
standards were kept, and there numbers of priests were occupied in their
office of blessing the warriors, offering sacrifices, and singing hymns
and litanies. But these pious sounds were frequently overpowered by the
loud voices of the gamblers and revellers, by the blows of the hammers,
the hoarse braying of the asses, and the neighing of the horses. From
time to time also the deep roar of the king’s war-lions
[See Diodorus, 1. 47. Also the pictures of the king rushing to the
fight.]
might be heard; these beasts followed him into the fight, and were now
howling for food, as they had been kept fasting to excite their fury.
In the midst of the camp stood the king’s tent, surrounded by foot
and chariot-guards. The auxiliary troops were encamped in divisions
according to their nationality, and between them the Egyptian legions of
heavy-armed soldiers and archers. Here might be seen the black Ethiopian
with wooly matted hair, in which a few feathers were stuck--the
handsome, well proportioned “Son of the desert” from the sandy Arabian
shore of the Red Sea, who performed his wild war-dance flourishing his
lance, with a peculiar wriggle of his--hips pale Sardinians, with metal
helmets and heavy swords--light colored Libyans, with tattooed arms and
ostrich-feathers on their heads-brown, bearded Arabs, worshippers of the
stars, inseparable from their horses, and armed, some with lances, and
some with bows and arrows. And not less various than their aspect were
the tongues of the allied troops--but all obedient to the king’s word of
command.
In the midst of the royal tents was a lightly constructed temple with
the statues of the Gods of Thebes, and of the king’s forefathers; clouds
of incense rose in front of it, for the priests were engaged from the
eve of the battle until it was over, in prayers, and offerings to Amon,
the king of the Gods, to Necheb, the Goddess of victory, and to Menth,
the God of war.
The keeper of the lions stood by the Pharaoh’s sleeping-tent, and
the tent, which served as a council chamber, was distinguished by the
standards in front of it; but the council-tent was empty and still,
while in the kitchen-tent, as well as in the wine-store close by, all
was in a bustle. The large pavilion, in which Rameses and his suite were
taking their evening meal, was more brilliantly lighted than all the
others; it was a covered tent, a long square in shape, and all round
it were colored lamps, which made it as light as day; a body-guard of
Sardinians, Libyans, and Egyptians guarded it with drawn swords, and
seemed too wholly absorbed with the importance of their office even to
notice the dishes and wine-jars, which the king’s pages--the sons of
the highest families in Egypt--took at the tent-door from the cooks and
butlers.
The walls and slanting roof of this quickly-built and movable
banqueting-hall, consisted of a strong, impenetrable carpet-stuff,
woven at Thebes, and afterwards dyed purple at Tanis by the Phoenicians.
Saitic artists had embroidered the vulture, one of the forms in which
Necheb appears, a hundred times on the costly material with threads of
silver. The cedar-wood pillars of the tent were covered with gold,
and the ropes, which secured the light erection to the tent-pegs, were
twisted of silk, and thin threads of silver. Seated round four tables,
more than a hundred men were taking their evening meal; at three of them
the generals of the army, the chief priests, and councillors, sat on
light stools; at the fourth, and at some distance from the others,
were the princes of the blood; and the king himself sat apart at a high
table, on a throne supported by gilt figures of Asiatic prisoners
in chains. His table and throne stood on a low dais covered with
panther-skin; but even without that Rameses would have towered above his
companions. His form was powerful, and there was a commanding aspect
in his bearded face, and in the high brow, crowned with a golden diadem
adorned with the heads of two Uraeus-snakes, wearing the crowns of Upper
and Lower Egypt. A broad collar of precious stones covered half his
breast, the lower half was concealed by a scarf or belt, and his bare
arms were adorned with bracelets. His finely-proportioned limbs looked
as if moulded in bronze, so smoothly were the powerful muscles covered
with the shining copper-colored skin. Sitting here among those who were
devoted to him, he looked with kind and fatherly pride at his blooming
sons.
The lion was at rest--but nevertheless he was a lion, and terrible
things might be looked for when he should rouse himself, and when the
mighty hand, which now dispensed bread, should be clenched for the
fight. There was nothing mean in this man, and yet nothing alarming;
for, if his eye had a commanding sparkle, the expression of his mouth
was particularly gentle; and the deep voice which could make itself
heard above the clash of fighting men, could also assume the sweetest
and most winning tones. His education had not only made him well aware
of his greatness and power, but had left him also a genuine man, a
stranger to none of the emotions of the human soul.
Behind Pharaoh stood a man, younger than himself, who gave him his
wine-cup after first touching it with his own lips; this was Mena, the
king’s charioteer and favorite companion. His figure was slight and yet
vigorous, supple and yet dignified, and his finely-formed features and
frank bright eyes were full at once of self-respect and of benevolence.
Such a man might fail in reflection and counsel, but would be admirable
as an honorable, staunch, and faithful friend.
Among the princes, Chamus sat nearest to the king;
[He is named Cha-em-Us on the monuments, i. e., ‘splendor in
Thebes.’ He became the Sam, or high-priest of Memphis. His mummy
was discovered by Mariette in the tomb of Apis at Saqqarah during ha
excavations of the Serapeum at Memphis.]
he was the eldest of his sons, and while still young had been invested
with the dignity of high-priest of Memphis. The curly-haired Rameri,
who had been rescued from imprisonment--into which he had fallen on his
journey from Egypt--had been assigned a place with the younger princes
at the lowest end of the table.
“It all sounds very threatening!” said the king. “But though each of you
croakers speaks the truth, your love for me dims your sight. In
fact, all that Rameri has told me, that Bent-Anat writes, that Mena’s
stud-keeper says of Ani, and that comes through other channels--amounts
to nothing that need disturb us. I know your uncle--I know that he will
make his borrowed throne as wide as he possibly can; but when we return
home he will be quite content to sit on a narrow seat again. Great
enterprises and daring deeds are not what he excels in; but he is very
apt at carrying out a ready-made system, and therefore I choose him to
be my Regent.”
“But Ameni,” said Chamus, bowing respectfully to his father, “seems to
have stirred up his ambition, and to support him with his advice. The
chief of the House of Seti is a man of great ability, and at least half
of the priesthood are his adherents.”
“I know it,” replied the king. “Their lordships owe me a grudge because
I have called their serfs to arms, and they want them to till their
acres. A pretty sort of people they have sent me! their courage flies
with the first arrow. They shall guard the camp tomorrow; they will be
equal to that when it is made clear to their understanding that, if they
let the tents be taken, the bread, meat and wines-skins will also fall
into the hands of the enemy. If Kadesh is taken by storm, the temples of
the Nile shall have the greater part of the spoil, and you yourself, my
young high-priest of Memphis, shall show your colleagues that Rameses
repays in bushels that which he has taken in handfuls from the ministers
of the Gods.”
“Ameni’s disaffection,” replied Chamus, “has a deeper root; thy mighty
spirit seeks and finds its own way--”
“But their lordships,” interrupted Rameses, “are accustomed to govern
the king too, and I--I do not do them credit. I rule as vicar of the
Lord of the Gods, but--I myself am no God, though they attribute to me
the honors of a divinity; and in all humility of heart I willingly
leave it to them to be the mediators between the Immortals and me or my
people. Human affairs certainly I choose to manage in my own way. And
now no more of them. I cannot bear to doubt my friends, and trustfulness
is so dear, so essential to me, that I must indulge in it even if my
confidence results in my being deceived.”
The king glanced at Mena, who handed him a golden cup--which he emptied.
He looked at the glittering beaker, and then, with a flash of his grave,
bright eyes, he added:
“And if I am betrayed--if ten such as Ameni and Ani entice my people
into a snare--I shall return home, and will tread the reptiles into
dust.”
His deep voice rang out the words, as if he were a herald proclaiming a
victorious deed of arms. Not a word was spoken, not a hand moved, when
he ceased speaking. Then he raised his cup, and said:
“It is well before the battle to uplift our hearts! We have done great
deeds; distant nations have felt our hand; we have planted our pillars
of conquest by their rivers, and graven the record of our deeds on their
rocks.
[Herodotus speaks of the pictures graven on the rocks in the
provinces conquered by Rameses II., in memory of his achievements.
He saw two, one of which remains on a rock near Beyrut.]
Your king is great above all kings, and it is through the might of the
Gods, and your valor my brave comrades. May to-morrow’s fight bring us
new glory! May the Immortals soon bring this war to a close! Empty your
wine cups with me--To victory and a speedy return home in peace!”
“Victory! Victory! Long life to the Pharaoh! Strength and health!” cried
the guests of the king, who, as he descended from his throne, cried to
the drinkers:
“Now, rest till the star of Isis sets. Then follow me to prayer at the
altar of Amon, and then-to battle.”
Fresh cries of triumph sounded through the room, while Rameses gave his
hand with a few words of encouragement to each of his sons in turn.
He desired the two youngest, Mernephtah and Rameri to follow him, and
quitting the banquet with them and Mena, he proceeded, under the escort
of his officers and guards, who bore staves before him with golden
lilies and ostrich-feathers, to his sleeping-tent, which was surrounded
by a corps d’elite under the command of his sons. Before entering the
tent he asked for some pieces of meat, and gave them with his own hand
to his lions, who let him stroke them like tame cats.
Then he glanced round the stable, patted the sleek necks and shoulders
of his favorite horses, and decided that ‘Nura’ and ‘Victory to Thebes’
should bear him into the battle on the morrow.
[The horses driven by Rameses at the battle of Kadesh were in fact
thus named.]
When he had gone into the sleeping-tent, he desired his attendants to
leave him; he signed Mena to divest him of his ornaments and his arms,
and called to him his youngest sons, who were waiting respectfully at
the door of the tent.
“Why did I desire you to accompany me?” he asked them gravely. Both were
silent, and he repeated his question.
“Because,” said Rameri at length, “you observed that all was not quite
right between us two.”
“And because,” continued the king, “I desire that unity should exist
between my children. You will have enemies enough to fight with
to-morrow, but friends are not often to be found, and are too often
taken from us by the fortune of war. We ought to feel no anger towards
the friend we may lose, but expect to meet him lovingly in the other
world. Speak, Rameri, what has caused a division between you?”
“I bear him no ill-will,” answered Rameri. “You lately gave me the sword
which Mernephtah has there stuck in his belt, because I did my duty well
in the last skirmish with the enemy. You know we both sleep in the same
tent, and yesterday, when I drew my sword out of its sheath to admire
the fine work of the blade, I found that another, not so sharp, had been
put in its place.”
“I had only exchanged my sword for his in fun,” interrupted Mernephtah.
“But he can never take a joke, and declared I want to wear a prize that
I had not earned; he would try, he said, to win another and then--”
“I have heard enough; you have both done wrong,” said the King. “Even in
fun, Mernephtah, you should never cheat or deceive. I did so once, and I
will tell you what happened, as a warning.
“My noble mother, Tuaa, desired me, the first time I went into
Fenchu--[Phoenicia: on monuments of the 18th dynasty.]--to bring her a
pebble from the shore near Byblos, where the body of Osiris was washed.
As we returned to Thebes, my mother’s request returned to my mind; I was
young and thoughtless--I picked up a stone by the way-side, took it with
me, and when she asked me for the remembrance from Byblos I silently
gave her the pebble from Thebes. She was delighted, she showed it to her
brothers and sisters, and laid it by the statues of her ancestors; but I
was miserable with shame and penitence, and at last I secretly took away
the stone, and threw it into the water. All the servants were called
together, and strict enquiry was made as to the theft of the stone; then
I could hold out no longer, and confessed everything. No one punished
me, and yet I never suffered more severely; from that time I have never
deviated from the exact truth even in jest. Take the lesson to heart,
Mernephtah--you, Rameri, take back your sword, and, believe me, life
brings us so many real causes of vexation, that it is well to learn
early to pass lightly over little things if you do not wish to become
a surly fellow like the pioneer Paaker; and that seems far from likely
with a gay, reckless temper like yours. Now shake hands with each
other.”
The young princes went up to each other, and Rameri fell on his
brother’s neck and kissed him. The king stroked their heads. “Now go
in peace,” he said, “and to-morrow you shall both strive to win a fresh
mark of honor.”
When his sons had left the tent, Rameses turned to his charioteer and
said: “I have to speak to you too before the battle. I can read your
soul through your eyes, and it seems to me that things have gone wrong
with you since the keeper of your stud arrived here. What has happened
in Thebes?” Mena looked frankly, but sadly at the king:
“My mother-in-law Katuti,” he said, “is managing my estate very badly,
pledging the land, and selling the cattle.”
“That can be remedied,” said Rameses kindly. “You know I promised to
grant you the fulfilment of a wish, if Nefert trusted you as perfectly
as you believe. But it appears to me as if something more nearly
concerning you than this were wrong, for I never knew you anxious about
money and lands. Speak openly! you know I am your father, and the heart
and the eye of the man who guides my horses in battle, must be open
without reserve to my gaze.”
Mena kissed the king’s robe; then he said:
“Nefert has left Katuti’s house, and as thou knowest has followed thy
daughter, Bent-Anat, to the sacred mountain, and to Megiddo.”
“I thought the change was a good one,” replied Rameses. “I leave
Bent-Anat in the care of Bent-Anat, for she needs no other guardianship,
and your wife can have no better protector than Bent-Anat.”
“Certainly not!” exclaimed Mena with sincere emphasis. “But before they
started, miserable things occurred. Thou knowest that before she married
me she was betrothed to her cousin, the pioneer Paaker, and he, during
his stay in Thebes, has gone in and out of my house, has helped Katuti
with an enormous sum to pay the debts of my wild brother-in-law, and-as
my stud-keeper saw with his own eyes-has made presents of flowers to
Nefert.”
The king smiled, laid his hand on Mena’s shoulder, and said, as he
looked in his face: “Your wife will trust you, although you take a
strange woman into your tent, and you allow yourself to doubt her
because her cousin gives her some flowers! Is that wise or just? I
believe you are jealous of the broad-shouldered ruffian that some
spiteful Wight laid in the nest of the noble Mohar, his father.”
“No, that I am not,” replied Mena, “nor does any doubt of Nefert disturb
my soul; but it torments me, it nettles me, it disgusts me, that Paaker
of all men, whom I loathe as a venomous spider, should look at her and
make her presents under my very roof.”
“He who looks for faith must give faith,” said the king. “And must not
I myself submit to accept songs of praise from the most contemptible
wretches? Come--smooth your brow; think of the approaching victory, of
our return home, and remember that you have less to forgive Paaker than
he to forgive you. Now, pray go and see to the horses, and to-morrow
morning let me see you on my chariot full of cheerful courage--as I love
to see you.”
Mena left the tent, and went to the stables; there he met Rameri, who
was waiting to speak to him. The eager boy said that he had always
looked up to him and loved him as a brilliant example, but that lately
he had been perplexed as to his virtuous fidelity, for he had been
informed that Mena had taken a strange woman into his tent--he who was
married to the fairest and sweetest woman in Thebes.
“I have known her,” he concluded, “as well as if I were her brother;
and I know that she would die if she heard that you had insulted and
disgraced her. Yes, insulted her; for such a public breach of faith is
an insult to the wife of an Egyptian. Forgive my freedom of speech, but
who knows what to-morrow may bring forth--and I would not for worlds go
out to battle, thinking evil of you.”
Mena let Rameri speak without interruption, and then answered:
“You are as frank as your father, and have learned from him to hear the
defendant before you condemn him. A strange maiden, the daughter of the
king of the Danaids,
[A people of the Greeks at the time of the Trojan war. They are
mentioned among the nations of the Mediterranean allied against
Rameses III. The Dardaneans were inhabitants of the Trojan
provinces of Dardanin, and whose name was used for the Trojans
generally.]
lives in my tent, but I for months have slept at the door of your
father’s, and I have not once entered my own since she has been there.
Now sit down by me, and let me tell you how it all happened. We had
pitched the camp before Kadesh, and there was very little for me to do,
as Rameses was still laid up with his wound, so I often passed my time
in hunting on the shores of the lake. One day I went as usual, armed
only with my bow and arrow, and, accompanied by my grey-hounds,
heedlessly followed a hare; a troop of Danaids fell upon me, bound me
with cords, and led me into their camp.
[Grey-hounds, trained to hunt hares, are represented in the most
ancient tombs, for instance, the Mastaba at Meydum, belonging to the
time of Snefru (four centuries B. C.).]
There I was led before the judges as a spy, and they had actually
condemned me, and the rope was round my neck, when their king came up,
saw me, and subjected me to a fresh examination. I told him the facts
at full length--how I had fallen into the hands of his people while
following up my game, and not as an enemy, and he heard me favorably,
and granted me not only life but freedom. He knew me for a noble, and
treated me as one, inviting me to feed at his own table, and I swore in
my heart, when he let me go, that I would make him some return for his
generous conduct.
“About a month after, we succeeded in surprising the Cheta position, and
the Libyan soldiers, among other spoil, brought away the Danaid king’s
only daughter. I had behaved valiantly, and when we came to the division
of the spoils Rameses allowed me to choose first. I laid my hand on the
maid, the daughter of my deliverer and host, I led her to my tent, and
left her there with her waiting-women till peace is concluded, and I can
restore her to her father.”
“Forgive my doubts!” cried Rameri holding out his hand. “Now I
understand why the king so particularly enquired whether Nefert believed
in your constancy to her.”
“And what was your answer?” asked Mena.
“That she thinks of you day and night, and never for an instant doubted
you. My father seemed delighted too, and he said to Chamus: ‘He has won
there!”
“He will grant me some great favor,” said Mena in explanation, “if, when
she hears I have taken a strange maiden to my tent her confidence in me
is not shaken, Rameses considers it simply impossible, but I know that I
shall win. Why! she must trust me.”