In spite of her usual perspicacity, Nofre had not noticed the effect
produced on her mistress by the sight of the careless stranger. She had
observed neither her pallor, followed by a deep blush, nor the brighter
gleam of her glance nor the rustling of the enamels and pearls of her
necklace rising and falling with her bosom. It is true that her whole
attention was given to the management of the equipage, which presented a
good deal of difficulty in view of the ever denser masses of sight-seers
crowding to be present at the triumphal entrance of the Pharaoh.
At last the car reached the parade ground, a vast enclosure carefully
levelled for military displays. Great banks, which must have cost thirty
enslaved nations the labour of years, formed a bold framework for the
immense parallelogram. Sloping revetment walls of unbaked bricks covered
the banks, and the crests were lined many files deep by hundreds of
thousands of Egyptians, whose white or brightly striped costumes
fluttered in the sun with that constant motion characteristic of a
multitude even when it seems to be motionless. Behind this ring of
spectators the cars, chariots, and litters watched by the coachmen,
drivers, and slaves, seemed to be the camp of a migrating nation, so
great was their number; for Thebes, the wonder of the ancient world,
reckoned more inhabitants than do certain kingdoms. The fine, smooth
sand of the vast arena lined with a million people, sparkled under the
light, falling from a sky as blue as the enamel of the Osiris
statuettes.
On the southern side of the parade ground the revetment wall was cut
through by a road which ran towards Upper Egypt along the foot of the
Libyan chain. At the opposite corner the revetment was again cut so that
the road was prolonged to the palace of Rameses Meiamoun through the
thick brick walls. Petamounoph's daughter and Nofre, for whom the
servants had made room, stood on this corner on the top of the wall, so
that they could see the whole procession pass at their feet.
A mighty rumour, low, deep, and powerful, like that of an advancing
ocean, was heard in the distance and drowned the innumerable noises
arising from the crowd, as the roar of a lion silences the yelping of a
tribe of jackals. Soon the separate sounds of the instruments were heard
amidst the thunderous noise produced by the driving of war chariots and
the rhythmic marching of the soldiers. A sort of reddish mist like that
raised by the desert wind filled the sky in that direction, and yet
there was no breeze,--not a breath of air,--and the most delicate
branches of the palms were as motionless as if they had been carved on
granite capitals. Not a hair moved on the wet temples of the women, and
the fluted lappets of their head-dresses fell limp behind their backs.
The dusty mist was produced by the army on the march, and hovered above
it like a dun-coloured cloud.
The roar increased, the cloud of dust opened, and the first files of
musicians debouched into the vast arena, to the intense delight of the
multitude, which, notwithstanding its respect for the majesty of the
Pharaoh, was beginning to weary of waiting under a sunshine which would
have melted any but Egyptian skulls.
The advance guard of musicians stopped for a few moments. Delegations of
priests and deputations of the chief inhabitants of Thebes crossed the
parade ground to meet the Pharaoh, and drew up in double line in
attitudes of the deepest respect so as to leave a free passage for the
procession.
The music, which alone might have formed a small army, was composed of
drums, tambourines, trumpets, and sistra. The first squad passed,
blowing a sounding blare of triumph through its short copper bugles that
shone like gold. Every one of these musicians carried a second bugle
under his arm, as if the instrument were likely to be worn out before
the man. The costume of the trumpeters consisted of a short tunic bound
by a sash the broad ends of which fell in front. A narrow band upholding
two ostrich-plumes fastened their thick hair. The plumes thus placed
looked like the antennae of a scarabaeus, and imparted to those who wore
them a quaint, insect-like appearance.
The drummers, clad in a mere pleated kilt and bare to the belt, struck
with sycamore sticks the wild-ass-skin stretched over their kettledrums
suspended from a leather baldric, keeping the time which the drum major
marked by clapping his hands as he frequently turned towards them. Next
to the drummers came the sistrum players, who shook their instruments
with sharp, quick movements, and at regular intervals made the metal
rings sound upon the four bronze bars. The tambourine players carried
transversely before them their oblong instrument fastened by a scarf
passed behind their neck, and struck with both fists the skin stretched
on either end.
Each band numbered not less than two hundred men, but the storm of sound
produced by the bugles, drums, sistra, and tambourines, which would have
been deafening within the palace, was in no wise too loud or too
tremendous under the vast cupola of the heavens, in the centre of that
immense space, amid buzzing multitudes, at the head of an army which
baffles enumeration and which was advancing with the roar of great
waters. Besides, were eight hundred musicians too many to precede the
Pharaoh, beloved of Ammon Ra, represented by colossi of basalt and
granite sixty cubits high, whose name was written on the cartouches of
imperishable monuments, and whose story was carved and painted upon the
walls of the hypostyle halls, on the sides of pillars, in endless
_bassi-relievi_ and innumerable frescoes? Was it too much indeed for a
king who dragged a hundred conquered nations by their hair, and from the
height of his throne ruled the nations with his whip? For the living
Sun that flamed on dazzled eyes? For one who, save that he did not
possess eternal life, was a god?
Behind the music came the captive barbarians, strange to look at, with
bestial faces, black skins, woolly hair, as much like monkeys as men,
and dressed in the costume of their country,--a skirt just above the
hips held by a single brace, embroidered with ornaments in divers
colours. An ingenious cruelty had directed the binding together of the
prisoners. Some were bound by the elbows behind the back; others by
their hands raised above their head, in the most uncomfortable position;
others again had their wrists caught in stocks; others with their neck
in an iron collar or held by a rope which fastened a whole file of them,
with a loop for each victim. It seemed as if the object sought had been
to thwart as much as possible natural attitudes in the fettering of
these poor wretches, who marched before their conqueror awkwardly and
with difficulty, rolling their big eyes and twisting and writhing in
pain. Guards marched at their side, striking them with sticks to make
them keep time.
Next came, bowed with shame, exposed in their wretched, deformed nudity,
dark-complexioned women, with long hanging tresses, carrying their
children in a piece of stuff fastened around their brow,--a vile herd
intended for the meanest uses. Others, young, handsome and fairer, their
arms adorned with broad bracelets of ivory, their ears pulled down by
great metal discs, wrapped themselves in long, wide-sleeved tunics
embroidered around the neck and falling in fine, close folds down to
their ankles, on which rattled anklets,--poor girls, snatched from their
country, their parents, their lovers perhaps; yet they smiled through
their tears, for the power of beauty is boundless, strangeness gives
birth to caprice, and perhaps the royal favour awaited some of these
barbaric captives in the secret depths of the harem. Soldiers
accompanied them and kept the multitude from crowding upon them.
The standard-bearers followed, bearing on high the golden staff of their
ensigns, which represented mystic baris, sacred hawks, heads of Hathor
surmounted by ostrich-plumes, winged ibex, cartouches bearing the king's
name, crocodiles, and other warlike or religious symbols. Long white
streamers spotted with black spots were tied to these standards, and
fluttered gracefully on the march.
At the sight of the standards which announced the arrival of the
Pharaoh, the deputations of priests and notables stretched out their
hands in supplication towards him, or let them fall on their knees, the
palms turned up. Some even prostrated themselves, their knees close to
the body, their faces in the dust, in an attitude of absolute submission
and deep adoration, while the spectators waved great palm-branches.
A herald or reader, holding in his hand a roll covered with hieroglyphic
signs, marched along between the standard-bearers and the
incense-burners, who preceded the king's litter. He shouted, in a loud
voice as sonorous as a brazen trumpet, the victories of the Pharaoh; he
related the fortunes of the Pharaoh's battles, announced the number of
captives and of war chariots taken from the enemy, the amount of the
booty, the measures of gold-dust, the elephants' tusks, the
ostrich-plumes, the quantities of balsamic gum, the giraffes, lions,
panthers, and other rare animals. He named the barbaric chiefs who had
been slain by the javelins of His Majesty the Almighty Aroeris,
favourite of the gods. At each proclamation the people uttered a mighty
shout, and from the top of the revetment banks threw down upon the
conqueror's pathway long, green palm-branches.
At last the Pharaoh appeared. Priests, who turned and faced him at
regular intervals, swung their censers, after having cast incense upon
the coals lighted in a little bronze cup which was held by a hand at the
end of a sort of sceptre topped by a sacred animal's head. They marched
respectfully backwards while the scented blue smoke rose to the nostrils
of the triumphant sovereign, apparently as indifferent to these honours
as if he were a god of bronze or basalt.
Twelve oeris, or military chiefs, their heads covered with a light
helmet surmounted by an ostrich-plume, bare to the belt, their loins
wrapped in a loin cloth of stiff folds, wearing their buckler hanging
from their belt, supported a sort of dais on which rested the throne of
the Pharaoh. This was a chair with feet and arms formed of lions, with a
high back provided with a cushion that fell over it, and adorned on its
sides with a network of rose and blue flowers. The feet, the arms, and
the edges of the throne were gilded, while brilliant colours filled the
places left empty. On either side of the litter four fan-bearers waved
huge feather fans, semicircular in form, carried at the end of long,
gilded handles. Two priests bore a huge cornucopia richly ornamented,
whence fell quantities of giant lotus-flowers.
The Pharaoh wore a helmet shaped like a mitre and cut out around the
ears, where it fell over the neck by way of a protection. On the blue
ground of the helmet sparkled innumerable dots like birds' eyes, formed
of three circles, black, white, and red. It was adorned with scarlet and
yellow lines, and the symbolic uraeus snake, twisting its golden scales
on the fore part, rose and swelled above the royal brow. Two long,
purple, fluted lappets fell upon his shoulders and completed this
majestic head-dress.
A broad necklace, of seven rows of enamels, gems, and golden beads,
swelled on the Pharaoh's breast and shone in the sun. His upper garment
was a sort of close-fitting jacket, of rose and black checkers, the ends
of which, shaped like narrow bands, were twisted tightly several times
around the bust. The sleeves, which came down to the biceps and were
edged with transverse lines of gold, red, and blue, showed round, firm
arms, the left provided with a broad wristlet of metal intended to
protect it from the switch of the cord when the Pharaoh shot an arrow
from his triangular bow. His right arm was adorned with a bracelet
formed of a serpent twisted several times on itself, and in his hand he
held a long golden sceptre ending in a lotus-bud. The rest of the body
was enveloped in the finest linen cloth with innumerable folds, held to
the hips by a girdle inlaid with plates of enamel and gold. Between the
jacket and the belt, the torso showed, shining and polished like rose
granite worked by a skilful workman. Sandals with pointed upturned toes
protected his long narrow feet, which were held close to one another
like the feet of the gods on the walls of the temples. His smooth,
beardless face with its great, regular features, which it seemed
impossible for any human emotion to alter, and which the blood of vulgar
life did not colour, with its deathlike pallor, its closed lips, its
great eyes made larger still by black lines, the eyelids of which never
closed any more than did those of the sacred hawk,--inspired through its
very immobility respect and awe. It seemed as though those fixed eyes
gazed upon eternity and the infinite only; surrounding objects did not
appear to be reflected in them. The satiety of enjoyment, of will
satisfied the moment it was expressed, the isolation of a demigod who
has no fellow among mortals, the disgust of worship, and the weariness
of triumph had forever marked that face, implacably sweet and of
granite-like serenity. Not even Osiris judging the souls of the dead
could look more majestic and more calm. A great tame lion, lying by his
side upon the litter, stretched out its enormous paws like a sphinx upon
a pedestal, and winked its yellow eyes. A rope fixed to the litter,
fastened to the Pharaoh the chariots of the conquered chiefs. He dragged
them behind him like animals in a leash. These vanquished chiefs, in
gloomy, fierce attitudes, whose elbows, drawn together by their points,
formed an ugly angle, staggered awkwardly as they were dragged by the
cars driven by Egyptian coachmen.
Next came the war chariots of the young princes of the royal family,
drawn by pairs of thorough-bred horses of noble and elegant shape, with
slender legs and muscular quarters, their manes cut close and short,
shaking their heads adorned with red plumes, frontlets, and headgear of
metal bosses. A curved pole, adorned with scarlet squares, pressed down
on their withers, and supported two small saddles surmounted with balls
of polished brass held together by a light yoke, with curved ends.
Girths and breast-harnesses richly embroidered, and superb housings
rayed with blue or red and fringed with tufts, completed their strong,
graceful, and light harness.
The body of the car, painted red and green, and ornamented with plates
and bosses of bronze like the boss on the bucklers, had on either side
two great quivers placed diagonally in opposite directions, the one
containing javelins, and the other arrows. On either side a carved and
gilded lion, its face wrinkled with a dreadful grin, seemed to roar, and
to be about to spring at the foe.
The young princes wore for a head-dress a narrow band which bound their
hair and in which twisted, as it swelled its hood, the royal asp. For
dress they wore a tunic embroidered around the neck and the sleeves with
brilliant embroidery and bound at the waist with a leather belt fastened
with a metal plate on which were engraved hieroglyphs. Through the belt
was passed a long, triangular, brazen-bladed poniard, the handle of
which, fluted transversely, ended in a hawk's-head. On the car, by the
side of each prince, stood the driver, whose business it was to drive
during the battle, and the equerry charged with warding off with a
buckler the blows directed at the fighter, while he himself shot his
arrows or hurled the javelins which he took from the quivers at the
sides.
Behind the princes came the chariots which formed the Egyptian cavalry,
to the number of twenty thousand, each drawn by two horses and carrying
three men. These chariots came ten abreast, with wheels almost touching
yet never meeting, so skilful were the drivers. Some lighter cars,
intended for skirmishes and reconnaissances came foremost, bearing a
single warrior, who in order to have his hands free while fighting,
passed the reins around his body. By leaning to the right, to the left
or backwards, he directed and stopped his horses, and it was truly
marvellous to see these noble animals, which seemed left to themselves,
guided by imperceptible movements and preserving an unchangingly regular
gait.
On one of these chariots the elegant Ahmosis, Nofre's protege, showed
his tall figure and cast his glance over the multitude, trying to make
out Tahoser.
The trampling of the horses held in with difficulty, the thunder of the
bronze-bound wheels, the metallic justling of weapons, imparted to the
procession an imposing and formidable character well calculated to
strike terror into the bravest souls. Helmets, plumes, corselets covered
with green, red, and yellow scales, gilded bows, brazen swords, flashed
and gleamed fiercely in the sun shining in the heavens above the Libyan
chain like a great Osiris eye, and one felt that the charge of such an
army must necessarily sweep the nations before it even as the storm
drives the light straw. Under these numberless wheels the earth
resounded and trembled as if in the throes of an earthquake.
Next to the chariots came the infantry battalions marching in order, the
men carrying their shields on the left arm, and a lance, a javelin, a
bow, a sling, or an axe in the right hand. The soldiers wore helmets
adorned with two horse-hair tails. Their bodies were protected by a
cuirass of crocodile-skin; their impassible look, the perfect regularity
of their motions, their coppery complexion, deepened still more by the
recent expedition to the burning regions of Upper Egypt, the desert dust
which lay upon their clothes, inspired admiration for their discipline
and courage. With such soldiers Egypt could conquer the world.
Then came the troops of the allies, easily known by the barbarous shape
of their helmets, like mitres cut off, or else surmounted with a
crescent stuck on a point. Their broad-bladed swords, their saw-edged
axes, must have inflicted incurable wounds.
Slaves carried the booty announced by the herald on their shoulders or
on stretchers, and belluaria led panthers, wild-cats, crawling as if
they sought to hide themselves, ostriches flapping their wings, giraffes
overtopping the crowd with their long necks, and even brown bears taken,
it was said, in the Mountains of the Moon.
The King had long since entered his palace, yet the defile was still
proceeding. As he passed the revetment on which stood Tahoser and Nofre,
the Pharaoh, whose litter, borne upon the shoulders of oeris, placed him
above the crowd on a level with the young girl, had slowly fixed upon
her his dark glance. He had not turned his head, not a muscle of his
face had moved, and his features had remained as motionless as the
golden mask of a mummy, yet his eyes had turned between his painted
eyelids towards Tahoser, and a flash of desire had lighted up their
sombre discs, an effect as terrific as if the granite eyes of a divine
simulacrum, suddenly lighted up, were to express a human thought. He
had half raised one of his hands from the arm of his throne, a gesture
imperceptible to every one, but which one of the servants marching near
the litter noticed, and at once looked towards the daughter of
Petamounoph.
Meanwhile night had suddenly fallen, for there is no twilight in
Egypt,--night, or rather a blue day, treading close upon the yellow day.
In the azure of infinite transparency gleamed unnumbered stars, their
twinkling light reflected confusedly in the waters of the Nile, which
was stirred by the boats that brought back to the other shore the
population of Thebes; and the last cohorts of the army were still
tramping across the plain, like a gigantic serpent, when the barge
landed Tahoser at the gate of her palace.