The rising of the moon, slow and majestic, as if conscious of the
honours that awaited her upon earth, was welcomed with a loud acclaim
from every eminence, where multitudes stood watching for her first
light. And seldom had she risen upon a scene more beautiful.
Memphis,--still grand, though no longer the unrivalled Memphis, that had
borne away from Thebes the crown of supremacy, and worn it undisputed
through so many centuries,--now, softened by the moonlight that
harmonised with her decline, shone forth among her lakes, her pyramids,
and her shrines, like a dream of glory that was soon to pass away. Ruin,
even now, was but too visible around her. The sands of the Libyan desert
gained upon her like a sea; and, among solitary columns and sphynxes,
already half sunk from sight, Time seemed to stand waiting, till all
that now flourished around, should fall beneath his desolating hand,
like the rest.
On the waters all was life and gaiety. As far as eye could reach, the
lights of innumerable boats were seen, studding, like rubies, the
surface of the stream. Vessels of all kinds,--from the light coracle,
built for shooting down the cataracts, to the large yacht that glides to
the sound of flutes,--all were afloat for this sacred festival, filled
with crowds of the young and the gay, not only from Memphis and Babylon,
but from cities still farther removed from the scene.
As I approached the island, could see, glittering through the trees on
the bank, the lamps of the pilgrims hastening to the ceremony. Landing
in the direction which those lights pointed out, I soon joined the
crowd; and passing through a long alley of sphynxes, whose spangling
marble shone out from the dark sycamores around them, in a short time
reached the grand vestibule of the temple, where I found the ceremonies
of the evening already commenced.
In this vast hall, which was surrounded by a double range of columns,
and lay open over-head to the stars of heaven, I saw a group of young
maidens, moving, in a sort of measured step, between walk and dance,
round a small shrine, upon which stood one of those sacred birds, that,
on account of the variegated colour of their wings, are dedicated to the
moon. The vestibule was dimly lighted,--there being but one lamp of
naphta on each of the great pillars that encircled it. But, having taken
my station beside one of those pillars, I had a distinct view of the
young dancers, as in succession they passed me.
Their long, graceful drapery was as white as snow; and each wore
loosely, beneath the rounded bosom, a dark-blue zone, or bandelet,
studded, like the skies at midnight, with little silver stars. Through
their dark locks was wreathed the white lily of the Nile,--that flower
being accounted as welcome to the moon, as the golden blossoms of the
bean-flower are to the sun. As they passed under the lamp, a gleam of
light flashed from their bosoms, which, I could perceive, was the
reflection of a small mirror, that, in the manner of the women of the
East, each wore beneath her left shoulder.
There was no music to regulate their steps; but as they gracefully went
round the bird on the shrine, some, by the beat of the Castanet, some,
by the shrill ring of the sistrum,--which they held uplifted in the
attitude of their own divine Isis,--harmoniously timed the cadence of
their feet; while others, at every step, shook a small chain of silver,
whose sound, mingling with those of the castanets and sistrums, produced
a wild, but not an unpleasing harmony.
They seemed all lovely; but there was one--whose face the light had not
yet reached, so downcast she held it,--who attracted, and at length
rivetted all my attention--_The Epicurean, by Thomas Moore, Esq._
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